The State of Diversity in Media and Broadband

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission the Open Internet Proceeding laid bare a modest difference in the broadband policy priorities held by consumer groups and the priorities held by civil rights organizations.

The United States is fast approaching its South Africa Moment. By about 2042, the United States will be “majority-minority.” Four states already are. Yet rather than preparing themselves to serve the new America, our media and broadband industries are moving rapidly backward toward the old paradigm of racial privilege and exclusion. And now we have a very real risk that around 2042, when the nation’s going to be majority-minority, we'll ask ourselves, “What did we do in 2011, when we were transitioning from an industrial to a digital society, to cause people of color to still be second class citizens? Why weren't we paying attention?” So what can we do for social justice in broadband right now? The cutting edge of reform has always been scholarship. We encourage scholars to write and conduct basic research on diversity in these industries.