Health of online journalism linked to universal broadband, says Genachowski

Broadcast Engineering ^ | June 17th

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski last week used the release of a new report on the information needs of communities as an opportunity to focus attention on the link between universal broadband availability and "healthy online journalism."

...

The focus of Genachowski’s speech was a new 478-page online report, "The Information Needs of Communities," authored by veteran reporter, editor and online publisher Steve Waldman and members of the FCC staff.

...

Genachowski said the report identifies areas in which the government, the private sector and nonprofits “can help make success possible for journalists and entrepreneurs that are trying to seize the opportunities of the digital revolution. Those include:

• ensuring low entry barriers for news and information entrepreneurs, including preserving Internet freedom and openness;

• streamlining and removing burdensome rules and obstacles for traditional news media seeking to distribute their work on digital platforms, and encouraging new news partnerships with non-profits;

• enabling development of business models that can sustain news and information in the 21st century;

• promoting government transparency and encouraging the development of ideas like State C-Spans;

• moving public information from paper files to the Internet in a way that’s easily available to consumers, citizens, and reporters; and

• achieving universal broadband access for all Americans.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

This guy is a totalitarian. It's that simple. Most of you that read this list he proposes will realize that many of them are utterly contradictory.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Now he's used the phrase "universal service". Oh, you know what? Wait. He didn't. He said "universal broadband access" so I must be totally wrong. That's totally not the same thing.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

They’re building marxism. That’s what net neutrality is all about.

[WOBBLY BOB]

Didn’t Algore’s tie-breaking vote to put the USF fee on every phone bill go into a ‘lock box’ for this very reason?

[abb]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_service

Origins of concept and term

The concept of universal service appears to have originated with Rowland Hill and the Uniform Penny Post which he introduced in the United Kingdom in 1837. Though Hill never used the term “universal service”, his postal system had the hallmarks of early universal service; postal rates were reduced to uniform rates throughout the nation which were affordable to most Britons, enabled by the postage stamp (first introduced here) and a General Post Office monopoly on mail. Hill’s reforms were quickly adopted by postal authorities worldwide, including the United States Post Office Department (now the United States Postal Service) which already held a monopoly through the Private Express Statutes. The service obligations of USPS under current law are commonly referred to as the “universal service obligation” or “USO”. Universal service is also a key objective of the Universal Postal Union.[2]

The term “universal service”, on the other hand, appears to have originated with Theodore Newton Vail, president of American Telephone & Telegraph (the original AT&T) and head of the Bell System, in 1907 with the corporate slogan “One Policy, One System, Universal Service”.[3][4][5] It was intended as a contrast to the “dual service” that had become common since the original Bell telephone patents expired in 1894, where independent telephone companies operated not only in non-Bell System markets, but also as a competitor in Bell markets.[6]

[SengirV]

I never claimed that the net neutrality as it’s written today is the answer. Corporations blocking sites and charging premiums to actually use the internet is a horrible solution as well.

If only the telco’s would keep their hands off the packets passing through the internet, we wouldn’t be facing what we are today. Too bad they can’t do that.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

I can’t specifically remember. If you could provide a link, that would be great.

[sam_paine]

• ensuring low entry barriers for news and information entrepreneurs, including preserving Internet freedom and openness for new Democrat voters

• enabling development of business models that can sustain news and information state propaganda in the 21st century;

• moving public information from paper files to the Internet in a way that’s easily available to consumers, citizens, and reporters; and to government agencies for inspection.

• achieving universal broadband access for all Americans who are still not on the internet in 2011!!! ergo, the most isolated freaks you can imagine.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

History is repeating itself.

And we will be the losers if the cycle isn’t short circuited.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

-——————I never claimed that the net neutrality as it’s written today is the answer.-——————

Fair enough.

But here’s the thing: If the FCC’s marxists are ever allowed to reach the conclusion of the schemes of what they want to do...........

You’ll end up being more outspoken against net neutrality than I am.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Fixed! :-)

[DesScorp]

“Online Journalism” could thrive with dial-up. This guy is really reaching here.

[Tublecane]

Funny, I don’t remember there being universal newspaper access. Okay, so they only used to cost, like, a nickel, but not everyone paid.

[abb]

But there was once a methodology to exert control over the printing press, which served the same purpose.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licensing_of_the_Press_Act_1662

The Licensing of the Press Act 1662 is an Act of the Parliament of England (14 Car. II. c. 33), long title “An Act for preventing the frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Bookes and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Printing Presses.” It was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863.