FCC and the Future of the Media

[Bart Preecs]

I listened in today to the webcast of Q & A between Michael Kinsley and Steve Waldman, who is leading an FCC initiative on “communication policies and the information needs of communities for the new digital age.” 

The full 90-minute discussion sponsored by the Media Policy Initiative of the New America Foundation is here.

Some of the highlights I found interesting:

• Waldman is “intrigued” by the Citizenship News Voucher idea proposed by Robert McChesney and John Nichols and others. . . . he thought the idea would strike a balance between being a bailout to legacy media and the potential problems of funneling money through some kind of grant making or funding mechanism like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  (Kinsley got a pretty good laugh for saying that he didn’t want to discredit the idea entirely, “but isn’t that what they do in France?” )
• Waldman was but skeptical that non-paid citizen journalists will be able to fill the gap at the “level above hyperlocal, covering City Hall or the State House.” 
• He hoped the FCC would be able to come up with revised policies for broadcast TV,  broadcast radio, cable and satellite TV that would support existing media, and find ways to create “something better” where that might be needed.

Public comments will be collected at the FCC Future of Media website through May 7.

 

 

Bart Preecs

ba...@mediapolicynetwork.com

(206) 229 7952

 

"Let the debate begin"  - - www.mediapolicynetwork.com

 

[Josh Stearns]

Thanks for summarizing this Bart - I wanted to let folks know that we have a few staff here at Free Press doing outreach around this FCC process and we would be happy to talk with anyone who wants more details or is interested in submitting formal comments. We have created a two page summary of the FCC's 11 page memo - it is available here: http://www.freepress.net/fccfutureofmedia

Best,

Josh

Josh Stearns

Program Manager

Free Press & SaveTheNews.org

jste...@freepress.net

413-585-1533 x204

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