
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 28, 1994                   TAG: 9502160002
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

COMMUNICATION SPEED STRESSED

Stung by the defeat of its telecommunications agenda in Congress this fall and facing industry criticism that it isn't doing enough to promote the technology, the Clinton administration is intensifying its efforts to put the information superhighway back on the political map.

Vice President Al Gore recently has been courting Republican congressional leaders in hopes of working with them on telecommunications reform legislation next year.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown has invited the vice president, Justice Department antitrust chief Anne Bingaman and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt to a telecommunications summit next month. The group will plot strategy for a landmark international conference planned for February in Brussels, Belgium, where government officials and industry leaders aim to set an ambitious global telecommunications agenda.

``There has not been any change in emphasis but there may be a change in the way we express our message,'' said Greg Simon, the vice president's chief domestic policy adviser.

In working to bring the world into the Information Age, Simon added, ``people shouldn't just focus on legislation. This is not just about [passing] a bill in Congress.''

The flurry of activity comes in the wake of the Republican takeover of Congress and a recent admonition by an administration advisory panel that the White House ``must place a much higher priority on finding ways to communicate effectively the benefits of the [information highway] to the average American.''

Since taking office two years ago, Gore and President Clinton have campaigned intensely for government and industry to build an information superhighway that would provide ordinary citizens with electronic access to data.

by CNB