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.

News Corp.'s Hit and Run

[Source: The Los Angeles Times, by Editorial, October 20, 2010]
By discriminating against Internet users based on the identity of their broadband provider, News Corp. added a troubling element to the debate over Net neutrality.

Broadband Speed Is the Tail Wagging the Policy Dog

[Source: GigaOm, by Craig Settles, October 16, 2010]
As the FCC promotes the National Broadband Plan, it appears it’s convinced making 100 Mbps Internet access speed available to 100 million households within 10 years will bring transformative ...

Nonprofits Have a Stake in the Latest Debates About Keeping the Internet Open

[Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy, by Vincent Stehle, October 3, 2010]
“Don’t be evil.”It may sound like the code of conduct for the fledgling witches and wizards arriving at Hogwarts. But it is actually the unofficial code of a different clan of young magicians—the ...

Telecommunications Companies' Gifts to Minority Groups Questioned

[Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy, October 5, 2010]
Public-interest groups are raising questions about major telecommunications firms’ donations to minority organizations that have run advocacy campaigns to back mergers and regulatory changes ...

Two Perspectives on Personal Privacy Over the Internet

[Source: C-SPAN, September 26, 2010]
Current legislative efforts in Congress seek to strengthen laws applying to personal data collected through Internet use. As The Communicators' four-part series on privacy and telecommunications ...

Stevie Wonder Makes Pitch To U.N. To Ease Copyrights For The Blind

[Source: Intellectual Property Brief, by Jack Korba, September 21, 2010]
Stevie Wonder has recently explained to the U.N.’s World Intellectual Property Organization that its current copyright system denies equal opportunities for the blind. He urged delegates to ...

Comcast-NBC Merger is All About Money, Politics

[Source: The Sacramento Bee, by Susan Crawford, September 15, 2010]
Comcast is the biggest high-speed Internet access company, the biggest cable company and the third largest phone company in the United States. It has about 50 million high-speed Internet, voice ...

The Internet Is Not A Tuna Sandwich

[Source: The American Prospect, by Nancy Scola, September 9, 2010]
TAP talks to a digital-media expert on net neutrality and policy responses to Internet freedom.

Net Neutrality: A Crucial Issue With a Lame Name

[Source: The Huffington Post, by Tina Dupuy, September 7, 2010]
The term "net neutrality" has the magical property of making most people's eyes glaze over. First, it sounds like a gambling term. "I have a system and net neutrality -- I can't lose!" Second, no ...

International Perspectives on Network Neutrality 2010

[Source: Global Media Journal Canadian Edition, by effrey Layne Blevins & Leslie Regan Shade, August 31, 2010]
The current issue of Global Media Journal focuses on Net Neutrality and traffic management issues in Canada, the US and around the world. Multiple editorials and research papers offer global ...