• Verizon Fails the Laugh Test

    Josh Levy
    June 19, 2012

    It’s encouraging to see that some members on Capitol Hill haven’t forgotten why they’re in Washington: to serve the people who elected them — and not the companies that paid for their campaigns.

  • Hey, Broadcasters ... Where's the Beef?

    Timothy Gray
    June 19, 2012

    Broadcasters are trying to gut the Federal Communications Commission's new rule requiring online posting of public and political files. Last month, the National Association of Broadcasters filed a lawsuit to reverse the FCC’s action. Another coalition of large TV station owners has formally asked the FCC to reconsider its decision. Broadcasters have also enlisted powerful allies in Congress in an effort to cut FCC funding to implement the rule.

  • Newsrooms Need to Do More to Reach Out to Communities

    Josh Stearns
    June 15, 2012

    The media landscape is shifting and becoming more participatory, and people want to do more than just read the news. They want to be co-creators, collaborators and distributors.

    While newsrooms have invested in various forms of community engagement — from mobilizing local bloggers into coordinated networks to using robust social media strategies to organizing community events — there is still a lot we don’t know about how to assess and measure the impact of this work.

  • Verizon: Let Us Charge You More for Less!

    Jenn Topper
    June 13, 2012

    On Monday, Verizon Wireless introduced data-sharing plans that will give users a monthly allotment of data to be used across all of their devices. The new option to share data will push customers to pay more for a limited amount of data, and it comes with a fee just to connect a device to the network. Even before using any shared data, a family of four would have to pay $160 each and every month just to connect four smartphones to Verizon's network.

  • NYPD Tries to Rewrite History

    Josh Stearns
    June 8, 2012

    After becoming the epicenter for press suppression and journalist arrests over the last nine months, the NYPD is trying to rewrite history and pretend like nothing ever happened.

  • The Future of News in New Orleans

    Josh Stearns
    June 8, 2012

    Last week’s announcement that the New Orleans Times-Picayune would be slashing its staff and cutting its print run to just three days a week has sparked a new round of debates about the future of news. But one piece has been missing in this discussion: the role of media policy.

  • Reform in the Age of Corporate Lawyers

    Timothy Karr
    June 5, 2012

    In the post-Citizens United era, wealthy corporations and individuals think democracy is a trophy they can buy, stuff and mount on their parlor walls.

  • He Said He Said

    Amy Kroin
    June 4, 2012

    Forget he said/she said. In mainstream media, it’s more like he said/he said.

    4th Estate’s new study of 2012 election-year coverage shows that major American newspapers and TV news programs feature up to seven times as many quotes from men than women. This is true even when “women’s issues” are the subject.

    4th Estate analyzed a sample of leading media outlets from Nov. 1, 2011 through May 1, 2012. During this period, eighty-one percent of the sources quoted in print articles about abortion were men. Seventy-five percent of those quoted in articles about birth control were men. Sixty-seven percent of those quoted in articles about Planned Parenthood were men.

  • Conan O'Brien Goes to the Dogs

    Amy Kroin
    May 31, 2012

    If you’ve ever doubted the existence of “fake news” — the trend in which newscasts pass off paid advertisements as actual reporting — these segments, courtesy of the volcanic-haired late-night funnyman, should put those doubts to rest.

  • Conflicting Messages About the Right to Record

    Josh Stearns
    May 30, 2012

    This month, federal agencies and local officials sent two powerful but conflicting messages to the American public about our right to record.

    On May 14, the Justice Department submitted a letter to the Baltimore Police Department that provided in-depth guidance on citizens' right to record. The letter was submitted as part of a court case that dates back to 2010. The plaintiff, Christopher Sharp, alleges that after filming the arrest of his friend in Baltimore, police confiscated his mobile phone and deleted the video.

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