And So It Goes…

Linda Ellerbee, gadfly of TV journalism, is teaming up with Microsoft for a monthly interview “show” on the Internet.

“If this is the way journalism is headed, I don’t want to be the last kid on the block to get there,” Ellerbee said.

The on-line show, “Encarta on the Record,” won’t look anything like television - except for having a product tie-in. The transcribed conversation will be relayed to a World Wide Web site, as will a still video image of her and her guest.

The soundtrack, with a slight delay to keep it synchronized with the transcript, also will be fed onto the Internet, so that users with the powerful enough software and hardware can listen. The first of four monthly “cybercasts” is scheduled for Feb. 21.

Ellerbee was a writer and anchor at “NBC News Overnight.” She has won the Emmy, Peabody, CableACE and Columbia duPont awards. Her 1995 Emmy and Peabody were for the children’s informational series “Nick News.”

The web site is http://www.microsoft.com/Encarta