The Media Moment

No, it is not a moment of on screen performance but the opportunity to redirect media and internet policy in the United States. Media reform activists are energized by Obama's clear positions on preserving network neutrality, reversing policies promoting media consolidation, and rebuilding public media for the digital age.

The reform group Free Press just released a policy paper filling in some details of Obama's stated principles. It calls for:

• Protecting an Open Internet: The Obama administration should move swiftly to put Net Neutrality into law by urging Congress to pass Net Neutrality legislation.
  
• Promoting Universal, Affordable Broadband: The next FCC should set new speed standards for broadband; collect meaningful data on deployment; transition the Universal Service Fund toward broadband; and open inquiries to stimulate broadband competition.
• Increasing Diversity in Media Ownership: The road to media ownership reform begins by reversing the Bush administration's pro-consolidation policies. Obama's FCC should also investigate the impact of concentration on localism and diversity.
• Renewing Public Media: Urge Congress to substantially increase funding for all levels of public media; create a long-term funding strategy that protects public media from undue political interference and supports the digital transition; and promote new Low Power FM stations and existing PEG channels.

Broadband Stimulus

Some are arguing that building up the US broadband infrastructure should be a component of an economic stimulus plan. The US falls in the middle of the pack in terms of broadband adoption, with over 40 million people -- approximately 5 million in Ohio -- without broadband. Most communities have only one or two providers, a dearth of competition that keeps prices high and performance low. This compromises US competitiveness by limiting education, telemedicine, entrepreneurism and civic and economic participation.

In the National Governors Association letter to Congress Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont wrote:

"[I]nvestments in ready-to-go infrastructure projects are a cost effective creator of high paying jobs. These investments should include a broad array of infrastructure projects including airports, highways, transit systems, clean water, sewers and broadband."

The Brookings Institute has released a study in which it estimates that each percentage point increase in broadband adoption results in nearly 300,000 jobs each year.

I think the most intersting argument is made by Yochai Benkler who argues for British-style federal effort to build fiber to the home aligned with a massive "each one teach one" effort to build up our nations math and science knowledge:

"We are happily contemplating paying people to dig up roads and pour cement. They will be building our physical infrastructure. There is no reason why we should not be equally happy paying people to teach, learn, and share what they learned. They will be building our knowledge infrastructure. Coupled with fiber to the home, by the end of the recovery we will have more of our population connected to much faster networks that will allow them to work from home, and they will be much better prepared to use that connectivity in a networked information economy."

Given Obama's seriousness about technology -- he plans to create a cabinet level Chief Technology Officer -- we could have very different media landscape in the near future.

Crew and Columbus: Missed Opportunity?

Well the Crew gave me an excuse to resume blogging and we'll see if few posts fueled by fan exuberance jump starts a wider range of reflection. As a segue, here is one more point on the Crew.

Andrew Miller, at Elephants on Bicycles, expressed what has been haunting the back of my mind: The Crew kind of blew it with the MLS Cup victory celebration.

Why did the Crew only announce the statehouse event on Tuesday? If you are not on the Crew email list, nor a regular reader of Crew.com, you never would have known about the event. As Miller points out, this should have been planned well in advance. The Crew missed out on capitalizing on the game coverage Sunday night and Monday.

Instead of the few hundred that were there could there have been a few thousand? At least there would have been an opportunity for fans to plan to attend. For a sport still struggling to occupy the attention of sports fans in a college football obsessed city, this was a missed opportunity.

Columbus: cosmo or cowtown?

I was interviewed by NBC4 while at the statehouse and asked about the importance of this victory for the City. I'm not sure what I said -- I was caught a bit off guard -- but, as usual, I thought of what I really wanted to say too late:

Yes we love our Buckeyes but I doubt Buckeye highlights are being viewed around the world. The MLS Cup, however, with international players playing an international game, surely is being viewed around the world. And right now Columbus has the best America has to offer in the world's game. Are we going to use that to our advantage, add it to our collective self-image and sell it the world? Or our we going to treat it as an interesting diversion then going back to Ohio State bowl predictions?

Come on Columbus. More than one sport can make our identity.

Massive! Crew wins MLS Cup!

Technorati Tags: Schelloto. Columbus Crew, MLS

MVP! MVP!

Congratulations GBS! You are the 2008 MLS MVP!

Catch the game with fellow fans this Sunday at Studio 35 in Clintonville.

Facebook sued

Columbus company sues Facebook, claiming that " it created the platform that Facebook uses to manage and store information. Leader said it applied for a patent on the technology in 2002, two years before Facebook was founded."

Any merit? One analyst says it is weak but may result in some fine paid by Facebook.

Technorati Tags: Columbus, facebook