Media Policy

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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.

Genachowski On Broadband: Mission Not Accomplished

[Source: Broadcasting & Cable, by John Eggerton, July 28, 2010]
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Wednesday defended the FCC's conclusion in a broadband deployment status report released last week that broadband was not being rolled out to all ...

On Landmark Law's 20th Anniversary, House Passes Bill to Make Internet More Accessible for Disabled

[Source: Washington Post, by Cecilia Kang, July 26, 2010]
The House late Monday passed a bill that aimed at making the Internet and mobile phones more accessible to the disabled through video captions for the hearing impaired and better descriptions of ...

'Jailbreaking' Smartphones Ruled Legal Under U.S. Copyright Law

[Source: Silicon Valley Mercury News, by Brandon Bailey, July 26, 2010]
In a decision that strikes at Apple's iron-fisted control over iPhone apps, the Librarian of Congress ruled Monday that consumers can "jailbreak" their smartphones, or alter their phone's software ...

Fair Use Victories on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA)

[Source: Center for Social Media at American Univeristy, by Patricia Aufderheide, July 26, 2010]
Another victory for common sense and fair use came today from the Librarian of Congress, acting on recommendations from Copyright Office. The latest ruling on exemptions to the Digital ...

FCC Defends Authority To Loosen Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership

[Source: Broadcasting & Cable, by John Eggerton, July 21, 2010]
The FCC Wednesday filed a brief with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals defending its authority under then-Chairman Kevin Martin to loosen the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban.The ...

Free Speech for Broadcasters, Too

[Source: The New York Times, by Editorial, July 16, 2010]
Some private functions of the body can be described on broadcast television, but not others. Some four-letter expletives can be said on the air at 10:05 p.m., but not at 9:55 p.m. Characters in ...

How Should the FCC Regulate Broadband? A Roundup of ‘Third Way’ Comments

[Source: BroadbandBreakfast.com, by Rahul Gaitonde, July 16, 2010]
WASHINGTON July 16, 2010 – After the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision upholding Comcast’s ability to thwart broadband traffic over the peer-to-peer file-sharing software BitTorrent, the ...

Rural Wireless Companies Tell FCC to Unlock Phones

[Source: Washington Post, by Cecilia Kang, July 15, 2010]
Japanese cellphone giant NTT Docomo said last week it will begin to offer unlocked phones to its customers next spring, a move that has rural U.S. wireless carriers asking the Federal ...

FCC Broadband Plan Will Put US in "Second Tier of Countries"

[Source: ArsTechnica, by Nate Anderson, July 9, 2010]
Even the oldest US Senators have gotten the message—the US wants fast broadband. And they have started to ask FCC Chair Julius Genachowski some hard questions about why the new National Broadband ...