Humboldt Sentinel

 Ownership limits should be maintained by the FCC, claims McLaughlin

Staff Report
Humboldt Sentinel

Access Humboldt has joined more than 50 public interest groups that filed comments today with the Federal Communications Commission regarding the FCC’s broadcast ownership review.

“Access Humboldt supports the national public policy goal of media diversity,” said Sean McLaughlin, executive director of Access Humboldt. “We join with colleagues across the nation in citing the facts of historic failure to achieve diversity of media ownership, and asking for the FCC to address the harms caused by ongoing consolidation.

In their letter to FCC chair Genachowski, Access Humboldt and the public interest groups request that the FCC:

• Evaluate the impact of its media ownership rules on ownership opportunities for women and people of color.
• Take proactive measures to promote ownership of broadcast stations by underrepresented groups.
• Guard against further erosion of media ownership among these groups by maintaining existing media ownership limits.

“For a healthy democracy, we need an open marketplace of ideas that supports freedom of information and expression, including local voices and the unique perspectives of all kinds of people,” added McLaughlin, who is also a Knight Media Policy Fellow with New America Foundation.

“Concentrated absentee ownership of broadband media networks is harmful to the public interest. The best way to ensure information diversity is to support development of community based networks and local media access for public, education and government purposes.”

For more information, call McLaughlin at (707) 616-2381.

Attempt to overturn FCC rules defeated in US Senate

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Humboldt Sentinel

Local public access media advocates are thrilled with a vote yesterday which halted an attempt by telecom giants to wipe out guarantees of net neutrality.

The United States Senate defeated a “Resolution of Disapproval” that would have overturned Federal Communications Commission rules to protect the Open Internet by preventing Internet service providers from discriminating between different media outlets.

“Access Humboldt applauds our US Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, especially Barbara Boxer who has been a steady champion on the Commerce Committee, for their action yesterday to defeat a misguided effort to close the Internet,” Access Humboldt executive director Sean McLaughlin stated in a release. “While public interests won the day, it is noteworthy that forty-six United States Senators actually voted in favor of unfettered corporate control over the Internet!”

The FCC continues to haggle over whether net neutrality rules also apply to wireless Internet services the same way they do to traditional phone and cable ISPs.

“The amount of misinformation presented by the opponents of an open internet was truly frightening and demands accountability,” McLaughlin stated. “Clearly, protecting freedom of information and expression will continue to require our eternal vigilance.”

Local media access non-profit claims Open Internet ethos undermined

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Humboldt Sentinel

The Federal Communications Commission under the Obama Administration continues the Bush legacy of undermining net neutrality, according to local and national media policy experts, and they’re taking their case to federal court.

This week Access Humboldt, the local media access non-profit which runs public, education and government access channels in the Humboldt Bay area, petitioned the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for review of an FCC decision entitled “Preserving the Open Internet.” They claim the policy wrongly discriminates between Internet access via mobile devices like smart phones and Internet access via fixed platforms like cable and telephone, and that the rules are legally unsound.

“The FCC’s decision is just too weak,” Access Humboldt executive director Sean McLaughlin stated in a release. “The rules do not provide the strong foundation needed for truly open, innovative networks. So we have a duty to challenge them in Federal Court.”

Access Humboldt is represented by Media Access Project as part of a national effort to protect nondiscriminatory consumer access to all of the Internet’s legal content — one which includes the media reform non-profit Free Press.

“The rules passed last December are riddled with loopholes,” Free Press policy director Matt Wood stated. “They don’t do enough to stop the phone and cable companies from dividing the Internet into fast and slow lanes, and they fail to protect wireless users from discrimination that is already occurring in the marketplace and that will only get worse.”

Current rules do not allow Internet service providers (whether phone or cable) to let some websites load faster than others or block access to websites that do not pay off the ISP, a practice derided by critics as a “Pay-to-Play” system. The FCC does not require wireless ISPs to adhere to the same rules, which has triggered lawsuits from cable and phone company giants fearing their new competitors will benefit from not having to follow the same rules.

“Any commercial arrangements that lead to a small, closed ‘faux-Internet’ rather than the complete, all-encompassing internet goes against the basic human right of freedom of information and expression,” McLaughlin stated. “The Internet belongs to everyone and we need rules to protect it that support open access for everybody, regardless of income, technology or location.”

After petitions are filed by industry and public interest groups, the Federal Appeals Court will determine by lottery in which Circuit the case will be heard.

Deadline is Sept. 19 to join either as a candidate or a voter

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Humboldt Sentinel

Have an itch to dictate policy and implement change at your local Public Access television station?

Now’s your chance to snag a seat on the Access Humboldt Board of Directors. Incumbents Harold Horne and Barbara Groom, having both completed their three-year terms, are now up for re-election and must combat any incoming challengers for their seats.

The news was disclosed at yesterday’s regular monthly board meeting, where the AH Board Development Committee announced their handpicked nominees who will appear automatically on the ballot. Other contenders will now have to petition to score a place on the ballot as well. According to Access Humboldt policy, any member of good standing is encouraged to collect ten signatures from other Access Humboldt members and submit a petition to be placed on the ballot.

The deadline is Sept. 19 to submit the petition and be considered a potential applicant for an open seat. Voters must also have renewed their Access Humboldt membership (or obtained a new membership) by that date in order to vote in the election. Membership costs $25 a year for individuals, and $100 for organizations.

“Anyone who submits a petition to nominate with the requisite signatures will be included on the ballot,” stated Tracy Jordan French, administration and development director of Access Humboldt, in a release earlier today.

Ballots will be mailed to members on Sept. 30, and the top-two vote-getters will be announced at the Annual Membership Meeting in late October. Two further seats will then be appointed by the new 2011-2012 Board, which includes six elected members, along with seven designees from local government, educational and non-profit institutions.

For more information, contact French at (707) 476-2872 or tracy@accesshumboldt.net. Membership applications are available at the Community Media Center, located on the campus of Eureka High School at 1915 J Street, or on their website, accesshumboldt.net.