What's on the agenda for policymakers.
Agenda
Net Neutrality Looms at Kavanaugh Hearing
The Senate formally kicks off the confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh with lawmakers poised to grill the judge for several days on a host of issues. Key among them for the tech and telecom crowd: Kavanaugh’s dissenting opinion in a 2017 ruling that upheld the Obama-era net neutrality rules.
You may be surprised to learn that newspaper audiences are larger today than ever due to myriad platforms on which news is published – print, websites, online newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, video and more. What would you do as an editor for a day? What would your coverage and story assignments be? What would you publish in print, online and in social media? What would your front page look like? An engaging interactive event with live video and a press run.
The digital age can eliminate density and geographic proximity requirements that were so critical during the industrial age. The digital age will make it possible for a rural community to maintain its “rural” feel and continue to leverage its natural amenities while taking advantage of what only dense urban areas enjoyed last century.
Small town newspapers, challenged by evaporating advertising revenues, mergers and declining circulation, struggle to sustain themselves. What can be done to keep local journalism strong, relevant, necessary and avoid news deserts?
Speakers: Al Cross, director Institute for Rural Journalism, University of Kentucky
Panel discussion: Mark Guerringue, publisher The Daily Sun, Conway, NH; Keith Gentili, Editor and Publisher, The New Boston Beacon; Paul Miller, executive editor, The Keene Sentinel
President Donald Trump's labeling of certain news as fake and journalists as the enemy of the people has raised doubts about the veracity and accuracy of news reporting. This has created a national narrative. How is journalism perceived in rural America? Are levels of trust higher or lower? What can local journalists and small-town community leaders do to maintain integrity and build trust in local journalism?
The PSAP RTT Education Day will provide information to PSAPs and other emergency communications systems about RTT features and benefits for emergency response personnel and consumers (including consumers with disabilities); best practices for processing RTT requests from service providers; and ways to implement the RTT service feature. Among other things, panels will address regulatory policy, PSAPs’ experiences with RTT testing, and RTT infrastructure issues. There will be a live demonstration of the use of RTT and opportunities for interaction by and with the audience.
Tech's make-or-break two months
With new attacks by President Donald Trump, high-stakes testimony Sept 5 on Capitol Hill, and a midterm election vulnerable to online manipulation, tech’s giants are bracing themselves for two months after Labor Day that could decide whether and how much the government regulates them. The companies — led by Facebook and Google but with Twitter, Apple, and Amazon also in the mix — are caught in a partisan vise, between privacy-oriented critics on the left who fear further election interference and newer charges from the right of anti-conservative bias and censorship.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors will vote on a consent agenda consisting of the minutes of its June 6, 2018 meeting and a resolution honoring the 55th anniversary of Voice of America’s English to Africa Service. The Board will receive a report from the Chief Executive Officer and Director of BBG.