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.

Explainer: Understanding SOPA

[Source: The Guardian, by Dominic Rushe and Chris Moran, December 23, 2011]
Will 2012 see the end of the Internet as we know it? The House Judiciary committee tried to finalize the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) before Christmas for a vote early next year. But fierce ...

FCC Proposes New Media Ownership Rules

[Source: The Washington Post, by Hayley Tsukayama, December 22, 2011]
The Federal Communications Commission announced Thursday that it will move ahead with a proposal to loosen the rules on media ownership.   Today, the agency voted to continue with a new proposal ...

Surrender by AT&T Is Victory for Consumers and Regulators

[Source: The Los Angeles Times, by David Lazarus, December 19, 2011]
AT&T's decision to drop its bid for T-Mobile will benefit the consumer marketplace. And for the first time in a long time, regulators ruled that bigger isn't always better in the telecom sector.

Brad Burnham Explains Why SOPA Must Be Stopped

[Source: TechCrunch, by Erick Schonfeld, December 15, 2011]
  The Congressional Judiciary committee is debating a bill today called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) which nobody in the Internet industry wants to see passed.

U.S. Ruling Sets Troubling Precedent for Social Media Privacy

[Source: OWNI.eu, by Aidan Mac Guill, November 22, 2011]
This month a U.S. judge ordered Twitter to hand over records for three of its users to the Department of Justice's investigation into Wikileaks. The ruling has troubling implications for privacy ...

Nonprofit Journalism and the Need for Policy Solutions

[Source: SaveTheNews.org, by Josh Stearns, December 5, 2011]
For decades, some of the best journalism in America has been produced by nonprofit news organizations.

Verizon’s Spectrum Deal with Cable Is the End of Broadband Competition

[Source: GigaOm, by Stacey Higginbotham, December 2, 2011]
The spectrum deal Verizon signed with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks Friday, in which the nation’s largest wireless operator would buy the unused airwaves from the nation’s ...

NBC Universal Threatens Partners That They Need To Sign 'Grassroots' Support of SOPA/PIPA or It Might Have to Drop Them

[Source: TechDirt, by Mike Masnick, November 29, 2011]
We've talked about CreativeAmerica, the astroturfing group set up by the major Hollywood studios, pretending to be a "grassroots effort" in favor of SOPA & PIPA.

NY Times & LA Times Both Come Out Against SOPA & PIPA

[Source: TechDirt, by Mike Masnick, November 28, 2011]
We've written a few times about how columnists at various mainstream press outlets have been speaking out against SOPA and PIPA, showing that the story is catching on in the mainstream media. ...

Infographic: Big Cable v. Grassroots in Community Broadband Referendum

[Source: Community Broadband Networks, November 28, 2011]
Learning the lessons of Longmont's recent cable referendum. Download the PDF version here.