Our public media campaign has a new home at SaveTheNews.org, where you’ll find information about journalism, public media and media consolidation all in one place.
Stay tuned, as the fight for public media continues.
Oscar will have plenty to be grouchy about if bills in Congress become law. Three bills are circulating that would cut or even entirely eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting.
Congress is playing politics with a public trust that hundreds of millions of Americans rely on for news, arts and entertainment, and for educational programming for our kids.
Yesterday, President Barack Obama signed the Local Community Radio Act into law.
You know you are getting to them when they change their voicemail.
In today’s media landscape, where mega corporations run amuck, it’s easy to forget that the airwaves belong to the public. But they do, and in return for the free use of this extraordinarily valuable public resource, station owners agree to serve the public by providing a certain amount of public interest programming.
The 111th Congress only has a scant few days remaining before the doors shut and their legacy is complete. Seems like a good time to really get down to some of this “bipartisan” business that we’ve been hearing so much about.
Cooperation, reaching across the aisle… when it comes up in stump speeches and on the cable news channels it sounds like it's just empty political rhetoric. But here’s an issue that has united Barack Obama, John McCain, Ron Paul and Bernie Sanders: Community radio.
Sometimes the inner workings of Washington seem incredibly juvenile. Thinking about the confluence of cash and corruption, the stalled progress on legislation, and the energy and potential that is wasted every year conjures up images of high school politics: cliques, favors, rumors, backstabbing and just plain BS.
Here’s a good example for you: A story in Politico this week outlined the current state of affairs on the Local Community Radio Act – a bill so noncontroversial and bipartisan that it sailed through the House on a voice vote and gained over 100 co-sponsors that included a healthy mix of political opponents in 2008, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain.
When WGXC-FM took to the airwaves on September 26th, they did so literally. To mark the community radio station’s launch, a tiny transmitter carried by dozens of balloons was released into the air above the city of Hudson, NY.
Have a great idea for better media? We want to hear it.
Free Press is excited to announce the call for suggestions for the 2011 National Conference for Media Reform. It's your chance to submit your ideas for sessions, presenters or topics for next year's big event.
Go here to submit a suggested session, speaker or topic.
My career in radio broadcasting, though relatively short, has deep roots. I grew up in a family which almost exclusively listened to public radio, valued varied tastes in music, and encouraged artistic, musical, social and political exploration. I spent hours listening to the radio, taking in every bit of world news I could and wondering how radio broadcasting worked. I dreamed someday to be at the controls of a big mixing board, twisting knobs and talking into a microphone for the whole world to hear.