Evolution of news via Internet

1. Web hits - and some misses
The growing speed and rekabuty ol tne Internet was apparent last week as the global network easily handfed a
flood of users seelung informabon on the Michael Jackson tnaj veract.
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Net gains in the delivery of news
Web: Internet Mirvices whether the system was broken. bllltoos of dollars Invested la
The system they were debat- broadband capacity during the
have posted signincant ing was the legal one — not the dot-corn mania and the Sept. U
iinpnivemcnls in report- Internet, whkh hai made major attack that altered how Web
Mt.Jt . over the past decade In sues respond to major news —
ing information. beLng able U> shoulder major have resulted In a much more
trial verdkt. The Michael Jackson verdict
Hit ANDUW RATKEK Seven years ago. newt and created no Web traffic Jams, re-
government sites choked when ported KcynoU; Systems Inc.. a
After the court clerk an- download ihe report from Inde- ages and measures Internet per-
nounced the Jury* "not gullly" pendent Counsel Kenneth W. formance, even as sites such u
verdict to each charge oi child Starr about President Clinton's CNN.com reported their busiest
abuse aumnsi Michael Jackson. affair wlih Monica Lewinsky. news day this year. Nearly 6.9
Bui events thai followed — Ihe million peo- {See Internet. 2c

2. PERSPECTIVE
This just in, according to the Net
llnttrntt, from Poye lc] page views for Turner Broad-
Tracking page view counts on CNN.com
pie accessed CNN.com the night Mm tvMt [tat* t*t* rim minute at Its peak and nearly
of the Jackson vtrdfct, about 1 Michael Jackson ventct June 13 77 million seven times as many as the pre-
million more than after the U.S. Pope Benedict XVI o'ccicj Apnl 19 Si million vious presidential election. 'I
launched war on Iraq In 2003. think we have attention deficit
Pope John Paul II nsars death jif-.n 71 trillion
Inicrre'lresearchfirm. ^^ Death of fern Schiauo March 31 62 million disorder as a society." said DavW
The system Itself ... is more President Bush inauguration Jan. 20 57 million Payne, senior vice president and
robust. The routers ore smarter. 3004 election nigji! (24 hours) Nov. 2 650 milion general manager of CNN.com,
1 1"" 'I want to see what's going
smarter,' said Harrison "Lee" on now.' get In. get ouL At 5:13
Rainle, director of the Pew black-and-white television. celebrity trial In California a on Monday night, everybody
Internet and American Lire •We're a IllUe past the 'Mr. decode earlier. 'I was a market- knew that Jackson was acquit-
Project, a research group. "Back Wauon. come here, I need you' ing consultant at a health care ted."
In the mid- to late 1990s when stage," sold Paul Sagan. refer- company on the j£asl Coast, and One-fifth of today's newspa-
the Internet was taking off. a lot ring to Alexander Graham's there were 15 people crowded per readers never see the print
of commentary was about 'Can Bell's first word* transmit led by around a pocket TV awaiting editions, according to a study
the system hold?1 The worry has phone in 1876. 'Mr. Watson. the OJ. verdict." said Hess, a Just released by the rating serv-
about security lor the system." come here. I want to see you." vice president with comScore ice Nielsen/Net jRaUr.Ks,
Handling tho stresi Technologies Inc.. has spread 2009. and every Individual has pers. the Lot Angela Time*
The test of any communica- 10.000 computer serve rs around this extraordinary ability to tune posted a Web site gain of 31 per-
tions technology is how It han- the work) to speed connections Into live coverage," cent, from May 2004 to May
dles stress. The reliability of the to hundreds of Web sites. Last fall. 180.000 people 2005; NYTlmes.com. 25 percent;
lar.dll.ne phone was considered, Akamai prospered after the signed up with CourtTVcom to USATodoy.com. 15 percent, and
by many, it* greatest character- event si-en as pivotal la the life get free e-mail alerts on their Washlngtonpost.com, 10 per-
istic. Wlrelesi phonei have of Internet news — the Sept. 11 cell phones when the Scott
attack that aJso claimed the life Peterson verdict wai an- cent. Nielsen reported. Some
of the company's co-founder. nounced. The response was newspaper people, wondering
even the providers recognize the about the destiny of print, have
Daniel Lewln. 31. was on Ameri- greater than Court TV expected.
can Airlines Flight 11 that and subscribers complained surmised that a better model for
^Tt-^T fV el b*o df crashed Into the north tower of when they didn't get akru until the future might be for subscrib-
fcnw oro'rfcl In U-e Elsenhower the World Trade Center. ho urs after the verdict. ers to pay for online access and
administration because leaders His partner In creating the CourtTV switched vendors get the paper edition free.
feared the telephone system was Cambridge. Mass.. company. and warily rolled out a similar
vulnerable. Scientists set out to Tom Lelghlon. cultivated his offer for the Jackson trial, but Still la black and whlto
create a more redundant, diffuse thinking about managing the with less publicity. Still, about Andrew J, Bulrtca. a historian
communications system less Web during the mid-1990s while 45,000 people signed up for with the Society for the History
centralized than Ma Bell's net- he worked down a hall at the Jackson alerts to their cell of Technology, recalled that
work, ftars still loom over the Maiiachusetts Institute of phones, and the process went 16th-century Americans mar-
Internet about security and vi- Technology from Tim Berners- more smoothly. Court TV has veled at how the telegraph
ruses such as the "MyDoom" Lee. credited ai the Inventor of also seen strong response to Its
the World Wide Web. thesmoklnggun.com, which took shaved time (rom. the process of
worm that Infected millions of getting Information and still
off after It documented the crim-
CITES about the network's ability Time capaulo inal past of bachelor jRlck Rock- many people didn't learn fur
to respond to spikes In traffic The events that have taxed well In the TV show W?io Wants days in 1865 that President Lin-
have abated. the young Internet read like a to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? coln had been assassinated. A
Perhaps the greatest transfor- time capsule unearthed from re- "We learned how challenging century later, the nation sat
mation In recent years has been cent years - the Victoria's Se- It was to execute, but the Web Is transfixed as television deliv-
the growth In high-speed broad- cret online roshlon show that the perfect environment to fol- ered news of the assassination
•pipes' that can carry more 1GS9. the Harry Pouer phenome- caught up on the online side In or his suspected assassin.
voice, video and data. High- non, and consumers clamoring other areas, to cell phones and •We're probably in the 1940s or
speed lines In the United States (or relief from Ulemarketers on satellite radio," said Galen the television age when It comes
grew to 39 million last year, up the 'Do Not Call' list. Online Jones, chler strategy officer for to Internet downstreamlng.
seven-fold from 5 million In 2000. holiday shopping also stumbled Court TV. a venture of Time Look at how many people still
according :o the most recent eorty on but has performed bet- Warner and Liberty Media Corp. oont^have broadband. Bulnca
data from the Federal Commu- ter In recent years. Online sales •people can follow the trial with
nications Commission. doubled between 2000 and 2004, their laptop at Starbucks, then
Provider* and consumers to 123 btllloa listen to It on Sinus when they ublqui'.y of cameras and micro-
have gotten smarter about the When a colleague suggested to get In their car." phones, especially since digital
technology. Some experts envi- Don Hess last Monday that he cameras are In the hands of ev-
sion a more active. Intuitive summon live video of Michael FftJrt Inforraatlon erybody. If they can get televi-
Internet that will make 1 today's Jackson traveling to hear the Demand Is growing for Instant sion and the Internet to come
still mostly static, pom , and- verdict In his trial. Heu' mind information. Ejection Night 2004 together, that would be the next
click screens seem like early raced back to another famous generated more than 000 million big explosion.'