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.

Library, Higher Education Groups Call on FCC to Adopt Net Neutrality Principles

[Source: Association of Research Libraries; March 1, 2010]WASHINGTON DC—Eleven library and higher education-related institutions and organizations today sent a letter to Federal Communications ...

Don't Mistake Her Kindness For Weakness: Interview with New FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn

[Source: Broadcast & Cable, by B&C Washington Editor John Eggerton; March 1, 2010] FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn favors a smile and an open mind - except when it comes to people taking ...

FCC National Broadband Plan Taking Shape

[Source: (Stifel Nicolaus) Washington Telecom Media & Tech Insider, March 3, 2010]
Plan to Offer Blueprint for FCC Rulemakings and Proposed Actions by Congress, Others• THE BASICS: TIMING, OBJECTIVES. The Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan is heading ...

FCC Takes a Close Look at the Unwired

[Source: The New York Times, by Brian Stelter and Jenna Wortham, February 22, 2010]
For many Americans, having high-speed access to the Internet at home is as vital as electricity, heat and water. And yet about one-third of the population, 93 million people, have elected not to ...

Case Closed: Why Most of USA Lacks 100Mbps Internet Connections

[Source: ArsTechnica.com, by Matthew Lasar, February 23, 2010]
Excitement about the approach of the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan, due March 17, is inspiring ever more dramatic calls for greater high-speed Internet connectivity ...

The Media Justice Fund Issues its Final Evaluation Report

Since 2003, the Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange has made grants to grassroots social change organizations to support the development of media and communications systems to advance ...

Op-Ed: Why Are Some Civil Rights Groups and Leaders On the Wrong Side of Net Neutrality?

[Source: Huffington Post, by James Rucker, January 28, 2010]
It's said that politics creates strange bedfellows. I was reminded how true this can be when I traveled to D.C. in recent weeks to figure out why several advocacy groups and legislators with ...

Community Radio Reaches Out in Haiti

[Source: Prometheus Radio Project, January 27, 2010]
"Much has been made about the role flashier technologies like Twitter, Skype and text messaging have played in helping disaster victims find loved ones and communicate with international aid ...

The Clinton Internet Doctrine: Internet Access is the New Freedom of Assembly

[Source: Change.org, by Nathaniel Whittemore; January 22, 2010] If freedom of speech gives people the right to express their viewpoints, freedom of assembly gives people the right to ...

Resource page: Hot Button Media Issues for 2010

Welcome to GFEM's first funder briefing call of the new year. We will be providing an overview of the key media issues to be addressed in D.C. and beyond in 2010 - from the Future of Journalism ...