Net Neutrality

NPR's decision to fire news analyst Juan Williams unleashed an attack on all federal funding for public media by a handful of politicians and commentators. But what the public really needs is to defend – not defund – public media. And members of the disability community in the Bay Area spoke out for Net Neutrality in a letter to the FCC.

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Defending, Not Defunding, Public Media

The U.S. Postal Service's recent proposal to hike postal rates has small print publications and news outlets worried for their future. And a deal between Google and Verizon could mark the beginning of the end of the Internet as we know it.

The National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution in support of Net Neutrality and the efforts of the FCC to reestablish its authority to regulate the broadband industry. Finland declared broadband access a legal right for its citizens. And The DISH satellite network is suing the FCC over a legal requirement to carry HD public broadcasting.

The FCC opened a new proceeding for public comment on restoring its authority to regulate broadband providers, but have been holding secret meetings with phone and cable companies to discuss a legislative compromise. And public interest and consumer groups filed a petition to deny the Comcast-NBC merger.

Summer 2009 has been the season of Astroturf. And the best way to combat it is to expose these phony grassroots organizations at every turn. August is typically quiet in Washington, D.C., but statistics have been loud and clear in illustrating the impact of government media policy on communities across America.

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Summer of 2009: The Season of Astroturf

The Internet Freedom Preservation Act, just introduced in Congress, will prevent Internet Service Providers from controlling access to online content, services and applications. And the Transmission Project is on a mission of its own: to amplify the power of public media and community technology.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) told FCC nominees Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker that the FCC was broken and he expects them to fix it. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about the Internet and the First Amendment. And the mainstream media's racist and sexist coverage of Sotomayor's nomination has Mary Alice Crim of Free Press angry and ready to take action.

Media Minutes looks at five of the top stories of 2008: The FCC proceedings concerning Net Neutrality, the 700 MHz spectrum auction and white spaces; Pentagon propaganda; journalists’ arrests at the RNC; and grassroots media organizing for PEG and LPFM.

This week it’s a big news wrap up with stories on some promised concessions from XM and Sirius in exchange for FCC approval of their planned merger, how AT&T and Verizon are asking the FCC to act on Net Neutrality and Comcast’s BitTorrent blocking, and some questionable police action against a Georgia pirate.

A Critical Ear is a weekly radio show broadcast on WRFU-LP in Urbana, IL. It focuses on international affairs and US foreign policy, on media analysis, and on the labor movement. WRFU-LP is a community station operating out of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center.

This week's show features a compilation of material, including a clean cut (soon to be uploaded separately) of Tim Robbin's address to the NAB.