Media Infrastructure

A high-speed, unfettered Internet, community-based media arts organizations, PBS, NPR, Public/Educational/Government (PEG) public access stations, or mobile phones are all a part of our media infrastructure—GFEM provides funders with information to help them in supporting media infrastructure, whether local, national, or international.

Igniting U.S. Broadband Through Obama Administration Executive Order

[Source: BroadbandBreakfast.com, by Chris Naoum, June 20, 2012]
WASHINGTON — Last Thursday President Obama announced the launch of a new initiative, “U.S. Ignite,” and signed an executive order reducing the cost of and barriers to broadband build-out and ...

Interactive Map Reveals Insights Into Community Broadband Adoption

[Source: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, by Elizabeth R. Miller, March 30, 2012]
A new, interactive map reveals interesting data about broadband adoption rates in communities across the country. The map describes what it calls “the poverty divide:” data illustrates ...

Why Sundance Tells Us Digital Distribution Is the Future

[Source: indieWIRE, by Ted Leonsis, February 1, 2012]
This is a first-person piece from Ted Leonsis, founder and chairman of SnagFilms (and parent company of Indiewire). He asked if he could have the floor to lay out why he believes digital ...

Get Radio! Mapping Project

[Source: Prometheus Radio Project, February 3, 2012]
The map you see here is a project bringing together:

After the Stimulus: Broadband and Economic Development

[Source: Fighting the Next Good Fight, by Craig Settles, October 4, 2011]
One of the big debates that goes on constantly is the one that asks, what’s the real economic development value of broadband? Of special interest to me, of course, is community broadband – ...

Seizing the Moment - What Role Will Funders Play in Community Radio Expansion

[Source: Prometheus Radio Project, September 9, 2011]
The Future of Community Radio is Coming Soon! Thanks to the passage of the Local Community Radio Act, groups nationwide will soon have the opportunity to start community radio stations in cities ...

FCC Plan Could Give LPFM Applications an Edge Over FM Translators

Applicants for thousands of FM translators may have to reapply if the FCC goes through with its proposal to give new low-power FM stations a chance to compete for the same frequencies. In a July ...

Oh No He Didn’t: AT&T’s CEO Calls DSL Obsolete

[Source: GigaOm, by Stacey Higginbotham, July 19, 2011]
Updated: AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson spoke Tuesday at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners summer meeting in Los Angeles, where he called his company’s copper-based DSL ...

Study Shows Public’s Cable Channels at Greatest Risk

[Source: Benton Foundation, April 5, 2011]
The Alliance for Communications Democracy (ACD) and the Benton Foundation released results of a nationwide study on public, educational and government (PEG) Access showing that public access cable ...

Social Media From the Philanthropist's Perspective

[Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy, by Allison Fine, April 6, 2011]
Much of the discussion about social media lately has focused on its usefulness to nonprofits, especially fund raisers. This week's podcast delves into social media from the philanthropist's side, ...