The Federal Communications Commission has considered four aspects of diversity: 1) Viewpoint diversity ensures that the public has access to a wide range of diverse and antagonistic opinions and interpretations provided by opportunities for varied groups, entities and individuals to participate in the different phases of the broadcast industry; 2) Outlet diversity is the control of media outlets by a variety of independent owners; 3) Source diversity ensures that the public has access to information and programming from multiple content providers; and 4) Program diversity refers to a variety of programming formats and content.
Diversity
Free Press’ Alicia Bell will be talking with journalists, advocates and policy experts about how to challenge and change a media that normalizes White supremacy in the Trump era.
The news has incredible power to influence how we think and react to the world around us. With this comes a responsibility to disseminate truth and challenge the powers that be.
#TechPolicySoWhite
The lack of diversity in tech policy means that regulators and lawmakers make policy decisions that impact marginalized groups from a perspective that is not inclusive of the viewpoints of these communities. I thought it was important to bring these thoughts to the forefront and also identify some solutions for resolving this diversity issue so we can make a transition from #TechPolicySoWhite to #TechPolicyKindaWhite to #TechPolicySoDiverse. Solutions to remedy the lack of diversity in tech policy:
Remarks
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr
FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks
NBC News White House Correspondent Kristen Welker
Panels
- Success Stories from Pioneers
- Success Stories from Today’s Radio Entrepreneurs
- Success Stories from Today’s Television Entrepreneurs
- Success Stories from Today’s Broadband & OTT Entrepreneurs & Content Providers
A T-Mobile-Sprint merger would be onerous for California's working families
A proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, the country’s third- and fourth-largest wireless operators, would have a profound impact on Californians. Wireless prices will rise so the merger will be particularly onerous for customers on tight budgets. In California especially, low-income customers tend to be people of color and immigrants. The merger would therefore disproportionately burden this vulnerable group — many of whom rely on cellphones as their only form of internet access.
Fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks are expected to be the next big leap in mobile broadband. Peak download speeds as high as 20 gigabits-per-second will enable specialized tasks like remote precision medicine, connected cars, virtual and augmented reality, and a wide array of internet of things (IoT) applications. Further, 5G will be a determining factor in whether or not mobile-dependent users fully partake in the global digital economy, especially as smartphones, cell phones, and other wireless-enabled devices become the only gateway to the internet for certain populations.
The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 100, 250, and 500 Films of 2018
In 2018, women comprised 20% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films. This represents an increase of 2 percentage points from 18% in 2017. In 2018, only 1% of films employed 10 or more women in the above roles. In contrast, 74% of films employed 10 or more men. Women accounted for 8% of directors, down 3 percentage points from 11% in 2017. This is 1 percentage point below the 9% achieved in 1998.
Race, ethnicity, and telecommunications policy issues of access and representation: Centering communities of color and their concerns
This paper examines how and why activist groups representing marginalized communities of color are increasingly engaging in communications technology policy issues, particularly in relation to issues of digital access and representation.
The Racial Digital Divide Persists
In 2016, Free Press released Digital Denied, which showed that disparities in broadband adoption — commonly known as the digital divide —stem not only from income inequality, but from systemic racial discrimination. The report found that nearly half of all people in the country without home-internet access were people of color. Much of that gap was indeed the result of income inequality.
Online, Vulnerable Groups Only Become More Vulnerable
Disruptions and threats to an individual’s digital security have profound impacts on that individual’s willingness to use technology—a particularly big problem when you consider just how much technology permeates people’s everyday lives.
American Indian Media Today
Through a series of interviews with Native media practitioners and experts, Jodi Rave of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance reports on the major trends and challenges for American Indian media today: