Welcome to the Free Press blog! We post several times a week on everything from Internet access to free speech to media mergers, so check back often to see what we’re up to.
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.
I’m the Internet campaign director at Free Press — the guy who sends you emails about things like CISPA, Net Neutrality and mobile phone unlocking. I’m also the guy who put together the Internet-themed sessions for the National Conference for Media Reform.
Well, we just unveiled our program, and it’s fantastic.
UPDATE, March 8: We won! On Thursday, the Georgia House of Representatives voted 94-70 to defeat the Municipal Broadband Investment Act, which would have blocked communities from building their own broadband networks.
UPDATE, MARCH 6:The push to legalize cellphone unlocking is gaining momentum.
In the last couple of days, bipartisan members of Congress have promised to fix the issue. Sen. Ron Wyden has already introduced a bill to legalize unlocking, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Jason Chaffetz have promised to introduce similar legislation.
A year ago 14,000 Free Press activists called on the IRS to help foster more nonprofit journalism in America. They followed up with meetings with members of Congress, making the case that nonprofit news is essential for all communities, and especially those left underserved by commercial news outlets.
The numbers are in and they add up to a big problem for our democracy.
Local television stations raked in nearly $3 billion in revenues from political ads in 2012, according to data released by the Television Bureau of Advertising.
In other words, American TV viewers had to sit through more than three million political ads during the election cycle.
Forget April in Paris — that’s nothing compared to April in Denver.
Paris may have its baguettes and blooming chestnut trees — but Denver has the National Conference for Media Reform. And you need to be there.
