News

PHILADELPHIA – On Thursday, public interest advocates are presenting oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a case challenging the Federal Communications Commission’s 2007 decision to lift the 35-year-old ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership.

On Wednesday, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Senate leadership objecting to an amendment included in the House budget that would prevent the FCC from enforcing its open Internet rules and opposing a “resolution of disapproval” in Congress that would overturn the FCC’s rules altogether.

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Free Press, Media Access Project, Media Mobilizing Project, Access Humboldt and Mountain Area Information Network filed motions to intervene in the Verizon and MetroPCS appeals of the Federal Communications Commission’s open Internet order.

WASHINGTON — On Saturday, the House voted to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the institution responsible for distributing federal funds that support 1,300 local public broadcasting stations. The cuts were made as part of a larger budget bill that proposes to slash $60 billion in federal funding to numerous valued public programs.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday evening, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve a pair of amendments to a massive bill that would slash the federal budget. One amendment, introduced by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing rules it enacted in December to protect Internet users from discrimination online.

NEW YORK – Even as public media are under attack on Capitol Hill, a new report shows how increasing, not cutting, federal funding can promote quality, independent journalism. The study, Public Media and Political Independence: Lessons for the Future of Journalism from Around the World, analyzes public media systems in 14 democratic countries, from Australia to Finland and France to Japan.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a nationwide map that offers perhaps the first comprehensive picture of broadband deployment in America.

Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner made the following statement:

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing with all five commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission on the agency’s Net Neutrality rules adopted in December.

Responding to announcements Wednesday that Republicans in both the House and Senate introduced resolutions to reverse Net Neutrality rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in December, Free Press Political Adviser Joel Kelsey made the following statement:

WASHINGTON, DC— More than one million Americans want Congress to know that playing politics with public media is unacceptable.