News on the Web

Citation

Andrew, A.M. (2001), "News on the Web", Kybernetes, Vol. 30 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2001.06730bag.001

News on the Web

News on the Web

Keywords: Russia, Investment, Internet, Newspaper publishing

Abstract Some sources of current news on the Internet are reviewed, both generally and with special regard to news from Russia. Within this, sources of information about business and investment in Russia are given.

As has been mentioned in earlier commentaries, a useful feature of the Internet is that it gives ready access to current news, conveniently reached by clicking on an appropriate area on the home page of most Internet service providers (ISPs). The news items often appear in a rather terse form, coming straight from a press agency. Often this is no bad thing, and it can be amusing to compare the concise versions with those in newspapers using many more words to convey no more information. However, a good place to find good analytical and discursive treatment is the site associated with the Observer and Guardian newspapers at: http://www.observer.co.uk/ or the New York Times at: http://www.nytimes.eorn/ Both of these sites are free, but that of the New York Times requires users to register and to acquire a username and password (still flee of charge) before access is given to full articles. Headings can be viewed without registration.

Two very useful Web sites giving access to news are included among "21 best sites" listed in the Internet Tourbus for 21st July 2000. (Archives of the Tourbus can be found, and searched by content, at the site: http//www.tourbus.com/) One of these two sites is called simply "Today's papers", with address: http://www.slate.com/code/todayspapers/todayspapers.asp It gives a daily news briefing compiled from the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and other leading newspapers. This facility is made available by the Microsoft group of companies.

This site can be accessed without registration, but it is associated with other facilities indicated by the term "slate". For others of these, described as more personalised and including one called MySlate, registration is required. The idea is to allow initial browsing of available information, as one might do in scanning initially through a newspaper, noting on a "virtual slate" items of interest to be brought together finally for detailed perusal. Details can be found by opening the site: http://www.slate.com/

The other news site listed among the 21 is Yahoo Full Coverage at: http://fullcoverage.yahoo.cong This lists the major news events and gives links to related articles from numerous sources, and is extremely comprehensive. News items are listed under the two headings of US news and World news. Items can be expanded by clicking on links, often leading initially to menus of other links, and arriving at relevant articles. The links may lead to articles from a source such as the New York Times, where access to the text requires either registration or the quoting of details from previous registration.

A valuable source of in-depth analysis of current events is associated with the acronym ID21, standing for: "Information for development in the 21st century". It is described as a fast-track research reporting service backed by the UK Department for International Development and run by a team at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, in Brighton.

The organisation makes available, to quote its Web site, "digests of social and economic research touching development concerns and dilemmas worldwide". The digests are held in a searchable database which can be accessed along with other information at: http://www.id21.org/ The digests come from many sources, including some 40 university research departments as well as independent consultants. They are invariably well informed and perceptive, often offering valuable new viewpoints, with a strong emphasis on humanitarian and ecological issues. The Web site gives brief abstracts, in each case with a link to the full text.

It is possible to subscribe to a free e-mail posting called ID21News, in which each edition lists the latest additions to the collection of digests. To subscribe to this, an e-mail should be sent to the address: id21news@ids.ac.uk having in the subject line (not the body, this time!) the words: "subscribe id21 news".

News from Russia

The Internet offers surprisingly many ways of obtaining reliable news and commentary, in English, about events in and affecting Russia. This is particularly welcome because, in many English-language news sources, Russian concerns tend to receive less attention than they merit on account both of their potential influence internationally and because of business opportunities they offer. Several English-language newspapers published in Russia and offering online information have been mentioned in earlier commentaries, and the following is a list with some new additions.

One such paper is the Moscow Times, whose main items, including very sound commentary, appear on the Web site: http://www.themoscowtimes.com along with a section for "news just in". Another paper in English, the Moscow Tribune, also gives good news and commentary but does not advertise a Web site. It has the e-mail address: tribune@glas.apc.ru

There is also the Moscow News with a Web site at: http://www.moscownews.ru This site has a section called "Russian Story" which allows viewing of the contents of the paper and a large number of other publications from the same company, some of them in Russian and some in English. The English-language titles include The Russia Journal, The St. Petersburg Times, The Russian Business Monitor, What the Papers Say, Banking and Exchange, Defence and Security, and The Russian Oil and Gas.

This remarkable site not only allows viewing of current issues, but can bring up back numbers, and has a search facility. However, what appears first is the contents list of the issue, and the user should click on this to bring it up in a larger format with the possibility of turning to other pages as required. I found that this transfer to the larger and multipage format only sometimes worked, and presumably this was because I had not registered and paid a membership fee. A note on the opening page invites registration, after which a fee of $19.95 per month gives unlimited access to the online periodicals. (Major credit cards are accepted.) "Acrobat" software is needed to view the images, but this can be downloaded free from many sources.

Although The Russia Journal is included in the Moscow News site, it also has its own Web site at: http://russiajournal.com, where the full text of articles in the current issue can be seen. This is another very sound source of news and analysis, published weekly on Mondays. This site also gives access to discussion forums on the main stories, where anyone can contribute by e-mail and have the comment made accessible with others in the forum.

Another good English-language journal, published monthly, is New Times, but it is another that does not advertise a Web site, though it has an e-mail address: newtimes@mtu-net.ru

A paper of a very different nature is called eXile and has its Web site at: http://www.exile.ru It offers satirical comment, and a regular feature is an uninhibited review of venues for Moscow nightlife. Satirical comment can be useful for filling in background and this site is worth a visit (by adults).

Business and investment

An organisation called the Moscow International Business Association (MIBA) has a site at: http://www.mibas.ru This initially comes up in Russian, but with a little searching a button saying "English pages" can be found. A wealth of information is then available, including a history of the organisation. It was founded in November 1997, with the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, as President. The aim is summed up, in a quotation from his Presidential address, as: "We wish to change the current situation in order to improve business conditions in Moscow and in Russia. And we definitely will complete this task". In a more detailed statement of goals it is made clear that the aim is to invite the international business community to join in and to help to form a modern market economy in Russia. To this end, MIBA offers help and advice to businesses interested in operating in Russia.

Under the auspices of MIBA, there is a Moscow Business Telephone Guide, in "yellow pages" form, and it is available online, with choice of English or Russian language, at: http://www.mbtg.net. Another potentially useful site for business information is that of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia at: http://www.amcham.ru. This organisation was founded in January 1994 and operates harmoniously with Russian organisations. The Web site contains a long newsletter commenting on the current economic situation.

A further interesting Web site seems to have changed its character between my visits to it. The site with address: http://www.luzhkov.ru, when visited in early 2000, gave public information, in considerable detail, about the deliberations of the Mayor's office and government of Moscow, with a choice between Russian and English. A later visit (September 2000) found the site to be only in Russian and apparently a personal site for Yuri Luzhkov. It may revert to its former function when there are particularly contentious issues before the Moscow government.

Anyone wanting to follow events in Russia in detail has ample sources of information on the Internet, without needing to know Russian.

Alex M. Andrew