A Book for Now

[Commentary] It's decision time regarding the Internet. Will the dynamic and opportunity-creating technology of the Internet be put on the same downhill road of radio, TV, and cable? Or will we learn from the mistakes of our past, and choose a higher road? There is a great new book, just published, that I hope Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler and his colleagues will read before they vote on “network neutrality” early in 2015. The book is America’s Battle for Media Democracy: The Triumph of Corporate Libertarianism and the Future of Media Reform. Victor Pickard, one of the brightest young media scholars in the communications firmament, is its author. Compelling as history and timely as pending FCC decisions, this book shines a bright light onto both our communications past and its future. Do yourself a favor: put America’s Battle for Media Democracy on your holiday gift and reading lists.

[Michael Copps served as a commissioner at the FCC from May 2001 to December 2011]