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.

Net Neutrality, Nausea & Political Theater at Its Worst

[Source: GigaOm, by Stacey Higginbotham, February 16, 2011]
The five FCC commissioners traveled to the Capitol today for a House Communications and Internet Subcommittee hearing on the necessity of the network neutrality order passed by the FCC in ...

House Approves Rider to Defund FCC Net Rules

[Source: Politico, by Eliza Krigman, February 17, 2011]
An amendment that would block funding of the Federal Communications Commission’s new net neutrality order cleared the House on Thursday, on a 244-181 vote that fell mostly along party lines.The ...

The Real 'Government Takeover Of The Internet'

[Source: Public Knowledge, by Art Brodsky, February 11, 2011]
Next week, the “government takeover of the Internet” meme will be on full display in the U.S. Congress. People will be able to see what it means when the government goes after vital parts of ...

Obama's Broadband Disconnect

[Source: Politico, by S. Derek Turner, February 10, 2011]
President Barack Obama hits the road Thursday to promote his national wireless initiative, aimed, as he said in his State of the Union address, to “make it possible for businesses to deploy the ...

First Step Reforming FCC’s Universal Service Fund? An Honest Evaluation of the Goals and Trade Offs

[Source: Wetmachine, by Harold Feld, February 8, 2011]
The problem of reforming the Universal Service Fund (USF) without Congressional direction means working without clear guidance on what the FCC should, institutionally, hope to achieve. ...

FCC Universal Service Overhaul Would Extend Broadband to Underserved Areas

[Source: PCMag.com, by Chloe Albanesius, February 8, 2011]
FCC Universal Service Overhaul Would Extend Broadband to Underserved Areas

Audio Recording from Funder Briefing Call on Net Neutrality and the Future of the Internet

Over 40 funders participated in an engaging discussion of current developments in Internet policy on a January 27, 2011 Media Democracy Fund briefing call co-sponsored by GFEM. As we heard on the ...

Investing in Men and Boys of Color: Opportunities for Philanthropy

Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 8:30am - 11:00am

Philanthropy New York, 79 Fifth Ave., 4th floor, NYC

The State of the Union, the Economy & Broadband

[Source: GigaOm, by Craig Settles, January 25, 2011]
President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech is tonight, where the commander-in-chief is expected to espouse jobs programs and improving the economy on the Main Streets of America’s urban, ...

Low-Power FM Radio to Gain Space on the Dial

[Source: The New York Times, by Brian Stelter, January 24, 2011]
OPELOUSAS, La. — When John Freeman turned on his car radio one recent day and tuned to KOCZ, the voice he heard was a 2-year-old girl’s.It belonged to Nyla Belton, the daughter of the afternoon ...