Comcast

Rep. Maxine Waters made it clear to Comcast and NBC that the proposed merger of the two companies should not simply be rubber-stamped. And online newspaper San Francisco Public Press is about to launch its first print edition with the help of more than 50 journalists and other nonprofit groups.

In response to ColorofChange.org's call for advertisers to stop airing commercials on the Glenn Beck Show after Beck's racist remarks, 57 companies have pulled their ads. And an appeals court threw out the FCC's ruling that cable companies couldn't own more than 30 percent of a market. But that doesn't mean that the agency gets to ignore the issue of capping cable ownership.

The FCC wants to know if Comcast is favoring its own digital phone service over others. And Progress Illinois is fighting Fox News for suspending their YouTube account for using video clips from the local Fox affiliate.

http://www.freepress.net/node/47491

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.

The FCC voted to punish Comcast for blocking users' access to the Internet. And the People's Production House arms up-and-coming journalists with the skills they need to create media.