Future of Public Media

The FCC’s proposed “net neutrality” rules, scheduled for public input on May 15, could make it harder for people who make media that matters to reach people who can use their work. 

Public-interest nonprofits including Free Press, Public Knowledge, Demand Progress, and Common Cause are calling foul play on the FCC’s decision to allow big content companies like Netflix to buy preferential treatment from Internet service providers. Specifically, the new policy would allow ISPs to charge for faster content delivery, as long as it’s “commercially reasonable.” Read more...

The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) embarked over the last several months on a series of conversations around the country called Dissection, workshops “devoted to deepening our sense of what media impact is, how to measure it and why it matters.” They brought together key journalists, documentary filmmakers, industry leaders, foundations and academics, culminating in Dissection D: Impact, hosted at American University. Read more...

Branded content, from advertising to sponsored work, has long used the skills of filmmakers and (often ex-) journalists. At SXSW 2014, unbranded content--sponsored but without an obvious pitch for product or even necessarily a direct link to the sponsor--was in full flourish, with companies recruiting for talent.  The biggest question for recruits may be ethics. Read more...

Is diversity an afterthought in film fest programming or is the production pipeline just really skewed toward the same race and class segregation as the rest of society? And is there anything to do about it? The SXSW lineup is only the latest to provoke that thought for me, and AJ Schnack’s gutsy call to harder-edged, more thoughtful discussion in docs triggers the thought to raise it in public, even though festivals are typically a moment to celebrate achievement. Read more...

Net neutrality is something every media maker has to care about, explained Free Press’ Craig Aaron at SXSW 2014. 

Net neutrality means that Internet providers treat equally all the information that they transmit, rather than prioritizing the information they own or favor. The term is a loose one; in a literal sense this doesn’t really happen now, and couldn’t without freezing the Internet. But in general, you don’t want a provider to do a deal with its favorite, say, newspaper or movie service, at the expense of others. That’s why the FCC made it a condition of Comcast’s 2011 purchase of NBCUniversal.  Read more...