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WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (OneWorld.net) - As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to name a new leader of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a chief technology officer at the White House, more than 100 advocates of a free and open media -- including some of the most well-known musicians, bloggers, and policy analysts in the country -- are urging him to remain true to campaign pledges to diversify media ownership; renew public media; and promote fast, affordable, and open Internet access.

• On any single day, an immense variety of information is available to users all over the Internet. "Net Neutrality" advocates are hoping to keep it that way.On the campaign trail, Obama said he wanted to enact policies that would "expand the diversity of voices in media" and keep the Internet "the most open network in history." Free Press has compiled a short video montage of the President-elect's statements on the issue. 

• Obama has said he strongly supports "net neutrality," a policy that esures the Internet does not become a "pay to play" battlefield where those with the most money can spread their content (and perspectives) faster and farther than those without. Veteran PBS analyst Bill Moyers explains that without "net neutrality" policies, Internet service providers would likely start charging fees to transmit information over the Internet. "For those companies that pay the fee, their content would breeze through the fast-pass lane at the toll bridge, reaching users more quickly; those who don't pay will be stuck in the crowded, slow-moving line, and users will have to wait longer for their content to load."

• In 2003, the Bush administration's FCC passed rules that would have allowed one company to own the local newspaper, up to three local TV stations, up to eight local radio stations, and the local cable system in a single media market. Federal courts overturned that decision the next year, but many remain concerned about the growing consolidation of media in the hands of a few big companies. In a series of hearings on the impact of media on local communities, citizens told officials that media consolidation results in less community-oriented programming, increased censorship of divergent views, less political discussion, and fewer minority-owned broadcast stations, among many other effects. Read their testimonies, as compiled by the citizen watchdog group Common Cause.

Alliance Tells Obama: Put Public Interest First in Picks for FCC, CTO

From: Free Press

Center for American Progress, SEIU, NOW, Free Press, ACLU, DailyKos, Members of Pearl Jam, R.E.M., and Hundreds More Call for Leaders that Support Media Reform and Net Neutrality

December 18, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Today, an alliance of more than 100 groups, unions, musicians, bloggers and media and technology leaders sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama calling on his administration to appoint leaders who will reform the media and protect the open Internet.

"This letter is a ringing endorsement of the media and technology agenda President-elect Obama has already set forth," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, the media reform group that coordinated the letter. "Public-interest groups, bloggers and the creative community strongly support Obama's pledges to diversify media ownership, renew public media and promote fast, affordable, open Internet access. The letter's signers now call on Mr. Obama to appoint public officials who will carry out our shared goals."

Obama will soon appoint the first-ever White House chief technology officer, along with positions at the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and in the Commerce, Education, Justice and Agriculture departments.

Those signing the letter include members of Pearl Jam and R.E.M., bloggers from DailyKos, FireDogLake and OpenLeft, scholars Tim Wu and Lawrence Lessig, and organizations like the Center for American Progress, Service Employees International Union, National Organization for Women, American Civil Liberties Union, MoveOn.org, American Library Association, UNITY: Journalists of Color, the Hip Hop Caucus, and the Future of Music Coalition, among others.

The full text of the letter is below. To see the list of signatures, go to: http://www.freepress.net/files/FCC-Obama-Letter.pdf

President-elect Obama:

We congratulate you for putting crucial media and technology issues in the public spotlight. Not only did your campaign embrace new technology and innovative media, you have embraced these values in your policy agenda. Your commitment and detailed plan represent a fundamental shift toward communications policy in the public interest. We happily offer our support and service in pursuit of our common goals.

We look forward to working with the leaders you will appoint to the White House, such as the Chief Technology Officer, the positions on the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, Corporation of Public Broadcasting and in the Commerce, Education, Justice and Agriculture departments. We urge you to select strong proponents of the public interest who will embrace and enact the policy proposals you made on the campaign trail to shape the future of the media, the Internet, the economy -- and our democracy.

Together, we have a unique opportunity to break with the past, lift the stranglehold industry lobbyists have had on communications policy, and put the public's priorities first. In your own words, you pledged:

• Protect an Open Internet: To "take a backseat to no one in my commitment to Net Neutrality" and "protect the Internet's traditional openness to innovation and creativity and ensure that it remains a platform for free speech and innovation that will benefit consumers and our democracy."
• Promote Universal, Affordable Broadband: To see that "in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online" by bringing "true broadband to every community in America."
• Diversify Media Ownership: To create "the diverse media environment that federal law requires and the country deserves."
• Renew Public Media: To foster "the next generation of public media," and "support the transition of existing public broadcasting entities and help renew their founding vision in the digital world."
• Economic Growth: To "strengthen America's competitiveness in the world" and leverage technology "to grow the economy, create jobs, and solve our country's most pressing problems."
• Open Government: To reverse "policies that favor the few against the public interest," close" the revolving door between government and industry," and achieve "a new level of transparency, accountability and participation for America's citizens."

The more than one hundred people who signed onto this letter -- and the millions more we represent in our organizations, workplaces and communities -- join your call to create a more vibrant and diverse media system and to deliver the benefits of the open Internet and new technology to all Americans.

View the full list of signatures: http://www.freepress.net/files/FCC-Obama-Letter.pdf

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