Friday, February 22, 2013

"How to Fix the Media Ownership Debate"

FOLKS: Re-posting this for those still thinking through your term paper topic. Perhaps of interest. 


From Steven Waldman, author of the FCC's report on the future information needs of communities (in the Columbia Journalism Report). 


"So instead of having a theological debate about consolidation—“good” vs. “evil”?—is it possible to create media policy that allows mergers that are likely to help the local media ecosystems and blocks those that are not? One possibility is that the FCC allow more companies to merge—giving them “waivers” from the ban—if they made a strong case that such a combination would have a demonstrable positive impact on the provision of local content, including (but not limited to) journalism. When the FCC presided over the NBC-Comcast merger, the companies pledged a variety of steps to improve local news and assist other organizations in the community that were doing so. The FCC could incorporate those kinds of voluntary conditions in other local mergers."

What do you think? This a great resource to help you think through your term paper topic and proposal!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Media Ownership Paper Resources

Hi Folks!

Lots of great resources out there to help get you moving on your final paper. First is this list of suggested readings from the UNC Center on Media & Policy. It is really terrific. And here you can find the report and transcript of their media ownership summit from earlier this year. Here is a summary of the event held at the Newseum on the same topic (I posted on the original event here). This is a fairly hot topic right now and there are plenty of interesting proposals floating around. I strongly encourage you to get started soon; this is not the type of assignment that can be done over one weekend.

Also, be sure to check out the list of resources included on the assignment handout (copied below), as well as your text book.

From the assignment handout: 


D. Linda Garcia and Ellen Surles, “Media Ownership and Communications: Enriching the Research Agenda,” Telecommunications Policy 31, no. 8–9 (October 2007): 473-492.

Robert W. McChesney, Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times (New Press, The, 2000).

Lee C. Jr Bollinger, “Freedom of the Press and Public Access: Toward a Theory of Partial Regulation of the Mass Media,” Michigan Law Review 75 (1977 1976): 1.

Lee C. Bollinger, The Tolerant Society (Oxford University Press, 1989)

George Glider, The Freedom Model of Telecommunications (The Progress and Freedom Foundation, 1995).

Robert W. McChesney, The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century, 1st Printing. (Monthly Review Press, 2004).

Michael Wolff, The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch (Broadway, 2008).

C. Edwin Baker, Media Concentration and Democracy: Why Ownership Matters, 1st ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Ben H. Bagdikian, The New Media Monopoly: A Completely Revised and Updated Edition With Seven New Chapters (Beacon Press, 2004).

Henry Jenkins, “The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence,” International Journal of Cultural Studies 7, no. 1 (March 1, 2004): 33 -43.

Lee C. Bollinger, Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-open: a Free Press for a New Century (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Eli M. Noam, Media Ownership and Concentration in America (Oxford University Press, 2009).

Ben Scott, “Politics and Policy of Media Ownership, The,” American University Law Review 53 (2004 2003): 645.

Scott Cleland and Ira Brodsky, Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc., 1st ed. (Telescope Books, 2011).

Bruce M Owen, “Regulatory Reform: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the FCC Media Ownership Rules,” Law Review of Michigan State University Detroit College of Law 2003 (2003): 671.

L. P Hitchens, “Media Ownership and Control: A European Approach,” The Modern Law Review 57, no. 4 (July 1, 1994): 585-601.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Think intellectual property is the cornerstone of US economic prosperity? Think again...


At least according to two economists with the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Here is their paper outlining how the current patent system is defunct and has a negative impact on innovation and productivity in the US economy. 

Monday, February 4, 2013

Internet policy supplemental reading...

For next week, be sure to read Hopkins (chapter 10) and Lawrence Lessig's (1999) law review on the modalities of regulation (Citation: Lawrence Lessig. "The Law of the Horses." Harvard Law Review, Vol. 113, No. 2, Dec. 1999, pp. 501-549). It is fun, I promise!  

Friday, February 1, 2013

Samsung, Intellectual Property and their Super Bowl Advertisement

Check out Samsung's 2013 Super Bowl ad here (hat tip to Jes Hallock for forwarding to me): 


Will be interesting to see if Apple responds....stay tuned!