Reports that employ attempts to inform communications policymaking in a systematically and scientific manner.
Research
State of the News Media: Newspapers Fact Sheet
Since 2004, Pew Research Center has issued an annual report on key audience and economic indicators for a variety of sectors within the US news media industry. On June 13, 2018, Pew released the Newspapers Fact Sheet.
Rural communities see big returns with broadband access, but roadblocks persist
The economic upside of internet access is being pushed by rural broadband advocates across the country who say that there isn’t enough being done to connect rural communities.
In 2019, people will spend more time online than they will watching TV. That’s a first.
It’s finally happening: In 2019, people around the world will spend more time online than they do watching TV, according to new data from measurement company Zenith. In 2019, people are expected to spend an average of 170.6 minutes each day on online activities like watching videos on YouTube, sharing photos on Facebook and shopping on Amazon. They’ll spend slightly less time — 170.3 minutes —watching TV. The global transition from TV to internet as the main entertainment medium was a long time coming, but it also happened faster than expected.
How Nonprofits Help Digitally Disadvantaged Communities Connect
There is, of course, a digital divide among low-income Americans, but there is also what we at TechSoup call an organizational digital divide. Many nonprofits themselves are low-income and benefit greatly from low-cost, uncapped broadband. This is a groundbreaking study on how charities use this resource for both their staff and their clients. Nearly a third of nonprofit respondents report relying on Mobile Beacon service as their main Internet connection. A majority of respondents reported that unlimited data has allowed them to expand their program services.
More than half of US households have ditched landline phones
More than half of US households — 53.9% — rely entirely on cellphones, according to a survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2006, only 15.8% of survey respondents said they didn’t have a landline telephone. The iPhone and its Android counterparts launched the next year, and the rate of landline abandonment has since steadily climbed. “There are countries in Europe where 80 to 90% of households are wireless only, so this trend could continue for some time,” said Stephen J.
New Data Show Substantial Gains and Evolution in Internet Use
The digital divide is showing signs of giving way as more Americans from all walks of life connect to the Internet. Several historically disadvantaged groups showed significant increases in online adoption, according to initial results from NTIA’s most recent survey on Internet use conducted by the US Census Bureau.
GAO Probing FCC Claims of Denial-of-Service Attack
The Government Accountability Office is investigating the Federal Communications Commission’s claim that its commenting system suffered a distributed denial-of-service attack during a controversial debate over repealing net neutrality rules in May 2017. The alleged DDoS attack, which slowed but did not completely disable the commenting site, came after comedian John Oliver urged his viewers to submit comments opposing the net neutrality rewrite favored by the Trump administration. The timing has led some critics to suggest the massive increase in traffic to the FCC commenting site may have
The will examine the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the agency’s role in managing federal spectrum and representing U.S. interests with the global internet multistakeholder community. Additionally, the hearing will look at how NTIA is working to deliver a modern National Broadband Map capable of providing better service availability data, along with other major policy issues before NTIA.
Measuring Broadband's (Public) Return on Investment
A Q&A with Ann Treacy of the Blandin Foundation editor of the blog “Blandin on Broadband”
A new study commissioned by the Blandin Foundation may help small communities put some hard numbers behind broadband’s public benefit. “Return on Investment: Measuring Impact of Broadband in Five Rural Minnesota Communities” looks at communities that have spent public funds on building out networks. Ann Treacy produced the quantitative portion of the report, while Bill Coleman of Community Technology Advisors gathered stories in each of the communities that illustrate the numbers.
Statement of Commissioner Clyburn on ISP Broadband Affordability Data
During my tenure at the Commission, many of our nation's most prominent broadband Internet service providers (ISPs) have created or participated in programs that promised to lower affordability barriers that prevent low-income communities from bridging digital divides. Over the past several years, some have offered stand-alone broadband service offerings at discounted rates for those families that meet certain criteria. Unfortunately, it is difficult for us to measure the success of those programs due to a lack of publicly available data.