August 31, 2011: The Department of Justice is filing suit to stop the AT&T merger. Read the statements of organizations within the coalition.  

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August 23, 2011: Here's an aggregation of statements and articles opposing the AT&T Merger

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August 16, 2011: Read the latest job loss stats projected by the Media and Democracy Coalition "US Workers Can't Afford Another Telecom Merger"

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May 25, 2011: Many members of the Media and Democracy Coalition who engage the grassroots sent a letter to the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission opposing the AT&T and T-Mobile merger. Read the Press Release and the Text of Letter.

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May 5, 2011: Looking for information to help understand Universal Service Fund (USF) Reform? Read what members of the Media and Democracy coalition are saying in a handy two-pager.  The most recent Coalition filings are summarized here as well. 

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April 5, 2011: MADCo staff launch a news blog to keep allies and advocates informed.

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March 20, 2011:  Members of the Media and Democracy Coalition are analyzing the proposed merger of AT&T and T-mobile with skepticism because of its potential harm to the wireless marketplace, impact on consumer choice, and possibility of higher prices. Read the statments and facts here. 

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July 29, 2011: Read excerpts from MADCo members' Petition To Deny AT&T/T-Mobile Merger here.

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June 8, 2011:  View the RFP for the Media and Democracy Coaltion website here. 

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April 1, 2011: Take action online against the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. Tell your elected officials,"We won't be fooled, this merger is bad for wireless users!"  

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February 16, 2011: Congress is holding hearings on the FCC's "Open Internet" order which was adopted in December. The Media and Democracy Coaliton along with its partners are urging congress to keep the rules in place and under the authority of the FCC. Read what our members are saying here. 

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February 14, 2011: Congress is getting ready to decide if we will have any Net Neutrality rules at all.  If the proposed bill passes it will not only repeal the FCC's current rules, but also prevent the FCC from making any net neutrality rules in the future.  Without government-backed Net Neutrality rules ISPs will be free to pick and choose which websites work and which websites don't.  

Read what are coaltion partners are saying here. 

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December 21, 2010: On December 21, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission approved an "Open Internet" order, also known as "net neutrality." Read what our members are saying about the rule...

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December 18, 2010: Congress approved the Local Community Radio Act, which allows for more local, independent radio licenses across the country. The Media and Democracy Coalition along with member groups take great pride in this victory. Read what our members are saying about the legislation...

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November 30, 2010:  The Media and Democracy Coalition has launched its action alert and announcement list. Join here to stay informed on the latest issues and actions in the Media movement. 

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November 9, 2010:  The Media and Democracy Coalition produced a new fact sheet that shows while ISPs are raking in big profits, they're still reducing their work force.  Meanwhile, just a few businesses that rely on the Open Internet to reach customers have a big on-line economic impact and could be hurt if ISPs are allowed to discriminate on-line.  Read more here. 

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October 29, 2010:  A coalition of national civil rights, privacy, and consumer organizations is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to move expeditiously to achieve several key goals of the National Broadband Plan. Read the press release and letter here. 

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October 20, 2010:  Bay area disability advocates and the Media Alliance work together to file comments with the FCC urging rules that will protect an open internet for everyone, including meeting the needs of the disability community. Read the letter here.  

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September 30, 2010: Fourteen organizations acting in the public interest have filed a letter with the FCC urging immediate action to stop cable operators from moving Public, Educational and Government (PEG) channels to the digital tier only. Read the letter here.

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September 8, 2010: Public interest groups call on AT&T to stop their campaign of misinformation about Net Neutrality and Paid Prioritization. Read the statement from coalition partners here.

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August 12, 2010:  In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, MDC member groups show how the Google/Verizon proposal fails to protect the Open Internet.  The groups call on the FCC to act swiftly.  Read the letter here.

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August 4, 2010:  Groups say a deal between Verizon and Google on net neutrality is not enforceable, and no replacement for strong rules at the Federal Communications Commission.  Read the press release here. 

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July 16, 2010: Members of MDC filed comments with FCC urging the agency to use its oversight over the Internet to make the U.S. a global broadband leader. Read more about what the groups said here.

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March 15, 2010:   Today, the Federal Communications Commission released the beginnings of the long-awaited National Broadband Plan. The Media & Democracy Coalition and our members have been pushing for a bold, innovative Plan to bring broadband to all U.S. consumers.  Read our press statement on the Plan here. 

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March 8, 2010: Nineteen civil rights and media reform organizations and advocates - including many members and allies of the Media and Democracy Coalition - signed this letter commending the Federal Communication Commission’s ongoing efforts to promote diversity.  The letter respectfully suggests, however, that the Commission should move ahead with its triennial Section 257 inquiry, its collection of media ownership data on Form 323, and other measures designed to fulfill statutory mandates favoring a diversity of media voices as well as entrepreneurs’ ownership of telecommunications and information services.

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February 17, 2010:   A coalition of public interest and consumer groups is urging the Federal Communications Commission to include a set of bold benchmarks and policies in the agency’s upcoming National Broadband Plan.  The groups issued their challenge to the FCC on the date the Plan was originally due to Congress per the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.  The Plan is now due on March 17, 2010.  More...

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February 10, 2010:  The Media and Democracy Coalition applauds Google’s announcement that it will build experimental high capacity fiber-optic networks serving between 50,000 and 500,000 consumers. This announcement comes as the Federal Communications Commission is putting the final touches on the National Broadband Plan, due to Congress in mid-March.  We urge the Commission to embrace in the Plan many of the commitments Google is making today: networks that are open access, offer symmetrical high-speed, and that involve community input.  We are pleased to see the company will abide by the principle of network neutrality, and urge Google to offer services over these networks at prices low-income consumers can afford.  More...

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January 7 2010: The Media and Democracy Coalition joined two-dozen other groups in a letter to President Obama and Members of Congress to express concern over the merger proposed by Comcast and NBC Universal.  

In a statement, MDC Executive Director Beth McConnell said “A combined Comcast and NBCU poses significant harms to consumers.  They could pay higher prices for cable and Internet, see fewer choices of content available on television or over the web, and face unfair, discriminatory practices by the merged media behemoth.  Internet subscribers, community media providers and creative producers should be protected if the merger is permitted.”      

You can also read a statement from Free Press here. 

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November 20, 2009: Hannah Miller of the Media and Democracy Coalition (MDC) testified today before New York City Council's Technology in Government Committee today in favor of open access policies, voicing support for the six principles put forward by the FCC and discussing the findings of Harvard's Berkman Center on how best to universalize next generation broadband for America.

MDC's testimony, on Councilwoman Gail Brewer's Resolution 712A in support of net neutrality, encouraged Council to pass it as a signal to policymakers in Washington that the issue is of pressing importance. Miller also discussed the findings of the FCC-commissioned Berkman Center for the Internet and Society report on what regulatory framework would best result in ubiquitous, affordable broadband.

The Berkman report, Next-Generation Connectivity: A Review of Broadband Internet Transitions and Policy from Around the World, delved indepth into 14 different regulatory frameworks, and found that open-access policies - opening carriers' networks up to different providers that then competed to sell service on those networks - resulted in lower costs and higher quality for the consumer, and lessened the digital divide.   

"These 14 nations had a choice: between the interests of a handful of telco companies, or the economic wellbeing of society as a whole," Miller said. "And in all 14, it turned out to be no contest." 

The full hearing is available online; MDC shares a panel with Common Cause NY and Future of Music Coalition at 56:12. MDC members People's Production House, Public Knowledge, and Free Press also testified. Testimony is available here.

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October 21, 2009:  The Media and Democracy Coalition (MDC) released a letter today that shows strong support for network neutrality from forty local groups that represent people of color, low-income consituences and other historically marginalized communities. 

The letter, sent to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, urges the Chairman to remain firm in his support for network neutrality rules, which would prohibit Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from discriminating content on the Internet.  The FCC is expected to issue its net neutrality proposal Thursday, October 22.

Meanwhile, nearly two dozen public interest organizations from more than twelve states sent another letter to Congress, urging key members to support the net neutrality proceding at the Federal Communications Commission.

The groups expressed disappointment with an earlier Congressional statement, signed by members of Congress from their states, that expressed a lack of support for net neutrality rules at the FCC.   

Cable and phone companies that want to upset the free flow of information over the Internet have been heavily lobbying the FCC and Congress to weaken or scrap the rules.  

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September 22, 2009, The Media and Democracy (MDC) marked the national release of A Public Interest Internet Agenda at a panel discussion on OneWebDay. Blair Levin, Executive Director of the FCC's Omnibus Broadband Initiative provided the keynote address. The panel called for “bold ideas” for the future of the Internet, and featured MDC board members, Amalia Deloney of MAG-Net and Amina Fazlullah of U.S.PIRG who discussed some of the bold ideas featured among the 36 specific polices included in A Public Interest Internet Agenda.

U.S.PIRG also coordinated the release A Public Interest Internet Agenda in 29 cities around the country to coincide with OneWebDay.

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September 21, 2009, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski gave a speech proposing that net neutrality be formally adopted as commission rules and that the rules explicitly apply to any Internet service, even if delivered over wireless networks.

Media and Democracy Coalition (MDC) members Free Press, New America Foundation and Public Knowledge have all released statements in support of Chairman Genachowski’s remarks. MDC is happy to see these positive moves on the net neutrality front!

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August 12, 2009, The Media and Democracy Coalition released A Public Interest Internet Agenda to the media advocacy community today!

In early 2009, organizations from rural, urban, and Native communitiescame together to develop an agenda to bring high quality, affordablebroadband to all U.S. residents. In forums from Fort Mitchell, Kentuckyto Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, these groups explored policy solutionsthat would allow their communities to harness the power and possibilityof the Internet. Through a process of collaboration and consensusbuilding among these diverse communities and the nation’s leadingpublic interest media advocacy organizations, an aggressive publicinterest framework for broadband policy was born.

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August 12, 2009, The Media and Democracy Coalition sent this letter to the FCC today urging the agency do a better job of including public interest voices in upcoming broadband workshops.

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On July 17 2009, Media and Democracy Coalition members joined with allies from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) and TeleCommunity in a letterto the National Telecommunications and Information Administration(NTIA) to make changes to the guidelines for broadband stimulus funds.

In our letter,we urge the NTIA to amend the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) inways that would make it easier for community broadband projects to befunded.  

MDC previously filed comments with the NTIA as the agency considered how to design the program.  You can read thecomments here. Executive Director Beth McConnell also testified on the need foraccountability and transparency in the program at a March 2009 NTIAhearing.  Read a transcript of the entire testimony.

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On June 8th 2009, the Media and Democracy Coalition filed brief comments with the Federal Communications Commission on the National Broadband Plan, which will be issued by the FCC in February 2010. 

The comments summarize recommendations MDC members will make in a fullreport, to be released in July 2009.  This forthcoming report wasdeveloped from the ground-up, involving local community groups in thepolicy setting process from the start, and linking them with allies atDC-based policy groups.  The comments and report stress:

• the Internet as tool to ensure the fundamental rights of all to communicate;
• the need for verifiable and transparent data to drive the broadband policy process;
• the importance of locally-owned networks, as well as competition;
• the need for wiser use of public resources such as spectrum and rights of way;
• that digital inclusion programs must be a critical part of U.S. broadband policy.

 

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On Monday, March 23, the Coalition joined with Common Cause, Public Knowledge, Reclaim the Media,and several local partners to release a report which argues that the$350 million broadband mapping program required by the recent stimulusbill would be set back if there is widespread participation in it by agroup called Connected Nation.

Read the press release and download the full report in .pdf format.