Stories from the Field

Report Offers Comprehensive Review of International Media Development

[Source: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, by Amy Starlight Lawrence, May 7, 2012]
The Center for International Media Assistance recently released the second edition of its Empowering Independent Media report.   The report is one of the most comprehensive reviews of the media ...

Feds Seized Hip-Hop Site for a Year, Waiting for Proof of Infringement

[Source: Wired, by David Kravets, May 3, 2012]
Federal authorities who seized a popular hip-hop music site based on assertions from the Recording Industry Association of America that it was linking to four “pre-release” music tracks gave it ...

Free Speech and Digital Rights Groups Call on Department of Justice to Protect Everyone’s Right to Record

[Source: Free Press, May 3, 2012]
WASHINGTON – On Thursday, nine leading free speech and digital rights groups called on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to focus attention on the alarming number of arrests of people documenting ...

Marty Kaplan on Big Money’s Effect on Big Media

[Source: Moyers & Company, April 27, 2012]
Big money and big media have coupled to create a ‘Disney World’ of democracy in which TV shows, televised debates and even news coverage are being dumbed down, just as the volume is being turned ...

When We Wage Cyberwar, the Whole Web Suffers

[Source: Bloomberg, by Susan P. Crawford, April 25, 2012]
Responding to concerns voiced by privacy advocates, conservative groups and hundreds of thousands of Americans, the House Intelligence Committee has revised parts of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing ...

Keeping the Internet Neutral

[Source: The New York Times, by Eduardo Porter, May 8, 2012]
Imagine a network of private highways that reserved a special lane for Fords to zip through, unencumbered by all the other brands of cars trundling along the clogged, shared lanes. Think of the ...

Connecting Philly

[Source: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, by Donna Frisby-Greenwood, April 6, 2012]
This week in Philadelphia, just ahead of Philly Tech Week, we helped introduce a new tool to the public. It aggregates locations across the city that provide access to the Internet.

Hashtag Activism, and Its Limits

[Source: The New York Times, by David Carr, March 25, 2012]
If you “like” something, does that mean you care about it? It’s an important distinction in an age when you can accumulate social currency on Facebook or Twitter just by hitting ...

Social Media Have Reshaped Nonprofits’ Traditional Powers of Persuasion

[Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy, by Vincent Stehle, March 18, 2012]
When 2012 opened, few people knew that Joseph Kony was a nefarious warlord, Susan G. Komen for the Cure was widely regarded as one of the strongest and most beloved American nonprofits, and SOPA ...