Derek leads Free Press’ research and policy analysis and advises the co-CEOs and policy team. Since joining Free Press full time in 2006, Derek's landmark research has revealed racial inequities in the digital divide, investigated the dismal state of media ownership among women and people of color, and exposed waste in federal broadband programs. He tracks the media, tech and telecommunications industries and writes on a wide range of policy issues, including broadband competition, broadcast consolidation, the economics of the media industry, and the future of journalism. He is the lead author of the book Changing Media: Public Interest Policies for the Digital Age, and his work has appeared in Ars Technica, Salon and Wired. Derek holds a master's degree in public policy from the Goldman School at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received the 2006 Smolensky Prize for Outstanding Advanced Policy Analysis.
Expert Analysis
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Public-interest watchdogging and new FCC leadership halted the waste of billions of broadband-subsidy funds.
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Cable One — a broadband provider to 923,000 customers in 24 states — made some honest comments that should make regulators at the FCC sit up and take notice.
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Lawmakers finally seem to be getting more concerned about the deepening crisis in local journalism. Here’s our look at the bills that have been proposed so far.
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During the late 2010s, 21 rural Massachusetts towns voted to build their own fiber networks. A broken process from the Trump FCC nearly imperiled these networks.
News
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Free Press called on lawmakers to take steps to ensure that low-income households can afford broadband access now and in the future.
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Free Press supports the FCC’s proposal to bar digital discrimination and urges it to reject industry pressure to water down its rules.
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The update arrives after decades of criticism that older maps painted a comically inaccurate picture of U.S. broadband.
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The Trump FCC gave Elon Musk's Starlink nearly a billion in subsidies.
From the Policy Library
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Free Press urges Congress to reimagine and reinvent universal service policy for the future.
Congressional Correspondence
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In these reply comments, Free Press urges the FCC to adopt strong rules prohibiting digital discrimination.
FCC Filing & Correspondence
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Free Press supports the FCC’s decision to bar digital discrimination whether it is intentional or simply due to broader structural factors.
FCC Filing & Correspondence
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In these comments, Free Press outlines specific steps for the agency to take to ensure that millions more people can connect to affordable internet.
FCC Filing & Correspondence
