Throughout the country and across the political divide, there has been a surge of support lately for a national investment in journalism. Meeting the information needs of our communities has become what the Twitter folks would call “a trending topic.”
In fact, this month alone saw the release of two major reports on the state of journalism and newsgathering in the United States.
This is a guest post by Mark MacCarthy, a professor at Georgetown University's Communication, Culture, and Technology Program. It originally appeared on www.SaveTheNews.org.
I want to develop the idea that substantially increased federal funding for public service media that provide local news and information would be an effective public policy response to the crisis in journalism.
The Local Community Radio Act (HR 1147) has just scored another big win in Congress.
Last week, we reported that the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet passed the bill out of committee. Today, the full House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the bill.
Here’s an update from Congress worth tuning into: the Local Community Radio Act (HR 1147) is finally advancing. This morning, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet passed the bill out of committee. This is a monumental leap toward getting local, nonprofit and community groups back on the radio dial.
Free Press welcomes the release of "Informing Communities," a new report by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. The report examines the challenges facing media and journalism, the information needs of local communities, and it presents a vision for the future of journalism and the media.
Informing Communities recommends policy changes in support of nonprofit and other emerging media models, increasing adoption of high-speed open Internet, improving media literacy, and promoting a more robust public broadcasting system.
This week, the new Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” is premiering on PBS. I had the good fortune to catch a few sneak previews of the six-part series, and I’m eager to see the rest.
I was struck by how the filmmakers tied the history of the national parks to our political, social and individual identities as Americans. This excerpt from the introduction on their Web site gets at some of these ideas:
It is worth celebrating that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting recently elected a new chairman – Ernest Wilson III, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California – who is ready to move public media into the digital age.
An excellent surprise was buried in the first FCC oversight hearing in Congress since Chairman Genachowski and Commissioners Baker and Clyburn joined the gang: unanimous support for the principles behind the Local Community Radio Act. This bill would make it possible to put more noncommercial, low power FM radio stations on the air in cities and towns across the country.
This is a fantastic piece from the MediaShift Idea Lab by Tony Shawcross of Deproduction/Denver Open Media about the future of community media in the digital age. Shawcross’ piece does an excellent job showcasing new public media at their finest: serving the public without desperately seeking profit, engaging communities neglected by commercial media, and operating free from the constraints of advertisers and shareholders.
You’re supposed to have made it big when the New York Times runs a feature on you. That must mean that Low Power FM radio is a rock star.
The paper of record ran a feature story, complete with an audio slide show, on LPFM today, showcasing a Low Power station in Creston, Mont. LPFM refers to non-commercial radio stations short on power and range – about 100 watts, with just a few miles’ reach – but long on community benefits.