Improving the quality of news coverage and presenting a greater range of viewpoints were the main topics of discussion at an FCC hearing in Atlanta. And as more people access news and information via the Internet, are they getting journalism that values diversity, transparency and accountability?

Several telecom and cable companies earned huge profits but paid next to nothing in taxes by exploiting loopholes in the tax code to avoid paying their fair share. And at least 26 journalists have been arrested while covering Occupy Wall Street protests across the country. One reporter kept his camera rolling as he was arrested.

Internet activists cheered as the Senate slapped down an attempt to destroy the FCC’s Open Internet rules. And who is going to save local news? Journalism education programs, according to a report from the New America Foundation.

Where commercial media are consolidating and slashing newsroom jobs, vibrant local journalism nonprofits are popping up across the country to fill the gaps. But they’ve hit one big bureaucratic snag with the IRS. And PBS talk-show host Tavis Smiley turned to the Media Mobilizing Project to help organize and document his series on poverty in America.

A draconian state law has kept Longmont, Colo., from using its fiber optic broadband network to increase broadband competition and create business opportunities for residents. But the residents are undeterred and will try again to take the network public this November. And Mexico has quickly become one of the most dangerous places for journalists as it has failed to prosecute more than 90 percent of press-related crimes over the last decade.

After three weeks of the Occupy Wall Street protests, the establishment media are beginning to pick up the story. But increased airtime doesn’t necessarily equal quality reporting. And a new paper says that Net Neutrality generates economic benefits for consumers — as much as $5,600 per user, per year.

Twenty-three towns in Western Mass. are using a 1906 law to form a cooperative to create a community-owned fiber broadband network offering high-quality Internet, phone and television services to member towns. And a new online news site in Michigan is trying to keep the public current on one topic: rivers.

As News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch tries to minimize the phone-hacking scandal that has led to several arrests and snared British officials and police in a web of unethical and possibly criminal behavior, U.S. public interest groups and some members of Congress are seizing the opportunity to call attention to the dangers of too much media in too few powerful hands. And a “broadband underclass” is developing in America as some populations soar with the fastest broadband connections available and others plod along with slow or no connections at all.

The FCC released its 450-page assessment on the future of media. Unfortunately, many the report’s recommendations around localism, media consolidation and transparency are contradictory to its analysis. And Sonic’s new 1 Gbps fiber broadband connection with two phone lines for $70 is sure to shake up the broadband market in Sonoma County.

A new initiative to spotlight women and girls as leaders across the world plans to promote 50 documentaries over a 3-year-span, showcasing women and girls fighting for social justice and equal rights. And the OpenCourt project hopes to make the wheels of justice more accessible to the public.