• In Your Face, Rupert

    Josh Stearns
    March 8, 2013

    We’ve been fighting media consolidation for a decade, and this month we chalked up another win. Thanks to the efforts of Free Press activists and allies around the country, the Federal Communications Commission announced it will again delay its vote on whether to weaken the media ownership rules.

  • FCC Chairman's Legacy: Ignoring Diversity

    Joseph Torres
    January 29, 2013
    Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski’s plan to allow greater media consolidation in local markets could wipe out many of the remaining TV station owners of color left in the country.

  • Fighting Words for the FCC

    Amy Kroin
    January 28, 2013
    Our nation’s capital is known for its bare-knuckle brawls. But last Thursday there was a smackdown of a different variety, courtesy of a debate on “Media Ownership and the Public Interest.” The event explored the gulf between America’s shifting demographics — and the incredibly puny numbers of women and people of color who actually own broadcast TV and radio stations.

  • Yo, AT&T: Stop Bullying Us

    Amy Kroin
    January 25, 2013

    AT&T customers are mad as hell — and by the looks of it, they’re not going to take it anymore.

    Back in August, the company announced that it would block iPhone users from accessing the FaceTime video calling app unless they subscribed to more expensive voice-and-text plans. Bedlam ensued.

  • Keep the Pressure On

    Josh Stearns
    January 25, 2013

    Late last year, word got out that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski was trying to rush a vote on a plan that would have weakened media consolidation rules, hurt media diversity and given Rupert Murdoch a green light to buy up major papers like the L.A. Times and the Chicago Tribune.  

  • Genachowski's Gigabit Gambit

    Josh Levy
    January 23, 2013

    Last week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski extolled the virtues of “gigabit” broadband:

    Making sure the U.S. has super-fast, high-capacity, ubiquitous broadband networks delivering speeds measured in gigabits, not megabits, isn’t just a matter of consumer convenience, as important as that is. It’s essential to economic growth, job creation and U.S. competitiveness.

  • AT&T: More Barriers. In More Devices.

    Josh Levy
    January 18, 2013

    AT&T is caving. Sort of.

    When the iPhone 5 launched last year, Apple announced that FaceTime, its video calling application, would now work over mobile networks.

    This was great news, especially for people who depend on video calling to communicate. But then AT&T blocked its customers from using FaceTime over its network.

  • Think Media Consolidation Is Good for Journalism? Think Again

    Josh Stearns
    January 3, 2013

    The Federal Communications Commission is pushing a plan to gut its 30-year-old newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban. This proposal would allow one company to own a local paper, two TV stations and up to eight radio stations in a single market. Advocates of more media consolidation argue that allowing TV stations and newspapers to merge is critical to cutting costs and saving local journalism.

  • Hey, CJR, Let's Do the Time Warp Again!

    Craig Aaron
    December 26, 2012

    Over at the Columbia Journalism Review, Steven Waldman laments that the media ownership debate is "stuck in a bit of a 1980s time warp."

    Well, gag me with a spoon.

  • Five House Reps Join the Anti-Media Consolidation Chorus

    Amy Kroin
    December 17, 2012

    The opposition to the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to gut media ownership rules continues to grow on Capitol Hill. In fact, it’s not just growing — it’s burgeoning.

    In just the last few weeks, 49 House members and 13 senators have told the FCC to ditch a proposal that would benefit media titans like Rupert Murdoch — and hurt just about everyone else.

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