New Media Timeline (1997)

By: David Shedden

December 16, 2004

Previous: 1996 / Next: 1998 Intro and links to the other years in the timeline
SERVICES & TECH April 1997 — A report from CommerceNet and Nielsen Media Research announces that the number of Internet users in the U.S. and Canada is more than 50 million. April 1, 1997 — One of the first blogs, Dave Winer’s Scripting News, is started. Another early blog is Jorn Barger’s Robot Wisdom, which is the first to call itself a Weblog. (See also: 2007 anniversary stories about the history of blogs.) August 1997 — Netscape launches its Navigator 4.0 Web browser. August 4, 1997 — The TiVo digital video recorder company is incorporated. Sept. 1997 — Microsoft releases its Explorer 4.0 Web browser. The Netscape and Microsoft companies pledge to improve their push technology. Many Web users were introduced to push technology by the PointCast company’s screen saver and personal information retrieval system. A study from the National Center for Educational Statistics finds that 78% of U.S. public schools are connected to the Internet. “The Godfather: The Manhattan Project, Silicon Valley, The World Wide Web. Wherever you look in the information age, Vannevar Bush was there first.” Wired, Nov. 1997. Dec. 1997 — A survey from DataQuest reports that 43% of U.S. households own personal computers.		THE MEDIA News Example: March 27, 1997 — “Heaven’s Gate.” (Source: Poynter’s Links to the News) “The Future of Online Journalism.” CJR, July/Aug. 1997. News Example: Aug. 31, 1997 — “England Mourns Princess Diana.” (Source: Poynter’s Links to the News) Sept. 1997 — The CompuServe service is sold to America Online as part of a deal involving telecommunications provider WorldCom. “Competing for Cyberturf.” Presstime, Sept. 1997. “Sidewalk scares newspapers. Does Microsoft pose a threat to print ad revenues?” SFGate.com, Oct. 12, 1997. “So You Want to Be An Online Journalist?” AJR, Nov. 1997. According to The Antenna, a Web site designed for broadcast journalists, some of the most popular TV news sites are: WRAL, Raleigh-Durham, NC WDIV, Detroit, MI KPIX, San Francisco, CA KVIA, El Paso, TX WCVB, Boston, MA WCCO, Minneapolis, MN KRON, San Francisco, CA WGN, Chicago, IL Awards AJR NewsLink readers rated the following websites the best in 1997: The New York Times USA Today CNN The Washington Post Los Angeles Times Jerusalem Post Times of London New Jersey Online Washington Times The Philadelphia Inquirer The 1997 Editor & Publisher EPpy awards (Archived list of winners) The 1997 NAA Digital Edge Award winners include: Best Online Newspaper Site Circulation more than 150,000 The Chicago Tribune Circulation 75,000 – 150,000 The Contra Costa Times Circulation less than 75,000 Tie: Sun Herald and GatorSports.com 1997 Webby Awards (Archived list of winners) Statistics According to The Media in Cyberspace IVsurvey, journalists used the following search engines in 1997: Yahoo — 43% AltaVista — 19% Netscape — 16% WebCrawler — 7% InfoSeek — 7% Lycos — 4% Other — 2% No Answer — 15% The America Online dial-up service has 10,000,000 subscribers. (Source: AOL) There are approximately 1200 television stations with sites on the Internet or dial-up services. (Source: Editor & Publisher) There are approximately 2600 newspapers with sites on the Internet or dial-up services. (Source: Editor & Publisher)

Previous: 1996 / Next: 1998

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David Shedden