Fighting for communication's future

[Commentary] While we were impressed with the honesty and rigor of our conversation with [Federal Communications Commission Tom] Wheeler, we were disappointed that the meeting was held behind closed doors, particularly in light of the fact that Comcast and its contemporaries visit the commission each and every day. Public meetings are one of the few ways in which everyday people have any chance of counteracting the oversize influence that corporations like Comcast have in American politics. As [Chairman] Wheeler thinks of the dozens of people he met with …, we hope he'll remember the millions filing comments in support of real net neutrality, and the thousands filing against the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger and in support of diverse local media ownership. And we hope he'll make himself available to hear these voices before it's too late.

[Wolfson is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University and co-founder of Media Mobilizing Project]