Grading the Internet President

[Comentary] Those of us who focus on media and Internet policy were caught off guard in 2008 when a handful of presidential candidates started to talk about the media and not just through it. The problem of the media was mentioned in stump speeches in Silicon Valley and Palm Beach, Florida, and on whistle stops in between. But the campaign rhetoric went beyond the standard refrain about media bias to real discussions about the policy reforms that we need to make American media, and especially the Internet, much better. No one was more outspoken on the trail than then-candidate Barack Obama. Has President Obama lived up to his Internet and media campaign promises in his first 100 Days in office? President Obama has cleared a path to a more democratic, open and accessible media in America, writing Network Neutrality into the DNA of the Recovery Act. But it's only a start. With further leadership from the White House, we can create a media system that's right for the 21st century -- a time when the media is becoming more decentralized, participatory and people-powered.