Media Policy

Restrictive media policies can curtail access to the content we do have through the infrastructure we currently have in place. There are clear roles for funders to play in helping to address media policy issues and GFEM works to keep funders abreast of the constantly shifting media policy environment.

The Media Policy Working Group (MPWG) was created to raise awareness and build knowledge about key issues in media policy within the broader philanthropic community. Our aim is to engage and educate grantmakers across fields about the ever-changing media policy and communications policy landscape, as well as foster collaboration among interested donors in support of targeted activities to help advance the media policy field. MPWG activities include a quarterly teleconference and periodic phone briefings on timely issues in addition to quarterly updates in the GFEM newsletter. MPWG also partners with other funder affinity groups to organize media policy-related sessions at national gatherings. Membership is open to grantmakers working in and outside the U.S. with an interest in learning and sharing grantmaking experiences about media policy in the public interest. If you would like to join the MPWG please contact jperlstein (at) gfem (dot) org.

Many Rural AT&T Customers Still Lack High-Speed Internet Despite Merger Promise

[Source: Huffington Post, by Gerry Smith, November 18, 2012]

Freedom and Connectivity in the Americas

[Source: The Aspen Institute, October 1, 2012]
The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program released a report of the Forum on the Freedom to Communicate, Freedom and Connectivity: Advancing the Freedom to Communicate in the Americas, ...

The Trans-Pacific Partnership could completely change intellectual property law. But the details are being kept secret.

[Source: Slate.com, by David S. Levine, July 30, 2012]
Most members of Congress do not even know what is in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

Do we need a new National Broadband Plan?

[Source: ArsTechnica, by Matthew Lasar, July 27, 2012]
FCC rolls out new rural "Connect America Fund," but bigger changes are needed.

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Media Ownership Restrictions

[Source: The Los Angeles Times, by Jim Puzzanghera, June 30, 2012]
The U.S. Supreme Court turns down an appeal by media firms of government rules limiting the ownership of a newspaper and broadcast station in the same market. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court ...

Genachowski Ignores Harm of His Data Cap Sentiments

[Source: Public Knowledge, by Art Brodsky, May 24, 2012]
There probably was no great need for Comcast to raise the usage caps on its broadband service, as it did last week from 250 gigabytes (GB) to 300 GB per month. If the company thought for an ...

Four Signs America's Broadband Policy Is Failing

[Source: ArsTechnica, by Timothy B. Lee, May 28, 2012]
Where's the robust broadband competition we were promised? In 2008, I wrote a paper for the Cato Institute questioning the need for network neutrality regulations; I argued that the Internet's ...

A New FCC: What Should We Expect?

[Source: Benton Foundation, by Michael Copps, May 8, 2012]
At last: a full Federal Communications Commission! After months of seemingly interminable delay (due to a confirmation process highjacked for non-related purposes) a full complement of five ...

Industry Tells Senate: Internet Video Is "Ready Now"

[Source: Public Knowledge, by John Bergmayer, April 24, 2012]
Today's Senate hearing on online video was interesting for a few reasons. The most important of these, to me, was that no one questioned whether the Internet was the future of video. It's apparent ...

Will the Senate Please Ask ISPs to Justify Their Wireless Caps?

[Source: GigaOm, by Stacey Higginbotham, April 23, 2012]
The Senate is investigating video competition during a hearing on Tuesday and public interest groups are using it as an opp