Changing Media: The Future of Broadband, Journalism, and Public Media

On May 14, policymakers and media activists gathered at the Newseum in Washington (DC) to discuss America's communications future. Keynote speakers noted that we cannot think about the future of any one media policy in isolation. For too long, our media system has been shaped by policies - for media ownership, broadband deployment, public media funding - that were made in silos, cordoned off from one another. The different agencies, different laws, and different priorities that have guided these discussions have left us with a media system that is disjointed and in crisis.

Panelists took a hard look at the role of government in shaping the media in America. Will our new media system be a resource for all Americans, an engine for economic growth, and a platform for new forms of art, entertainment, education and information? Or will we let the digital divide grow, expanding the information gap and cutting more people off from the benefits of the Web?

National Economic Council official Susan Crawford said, "Broadband is the new essential infrastructure. Access to broadband does not guarantee" success, but "lack of access to broadband will guarantee economic decline." Federal Communications Commission

Chairman Michael Copps identified organizing principles that should serve as our touchstone as we sift through the myriad ideas out there and try to create a media that is truly "of, by and for the American people": 1) Principle Number One: It's all about democracy. 2) Principle Number Two: old media is not dead. 3) Principle Number Three is to make sure that the sins visited upon old media are not permitted to deny the promise of new media. 4) Principle Number Four is: Remember what got us here.