The New Yorker has an interesting piece in their financial page on the planned merger of satellite radio firms XM and Sirius by James Surowiecki. From a consumer perspective, Surowiecki argues that in this case a monopoly might be good for us: It comes down to the question of what market XM and Sirius are in….
Category: Media Reform
Free Press is hiring
I just got word that Free Press, an amazing nation-wide advocacy group focused on democratizing the media, are hiring for 11 exciting positions: Campaign Coordinator for SavetheInternet.com, Policy Coordinator, Campaign Coordinator (two positions), Communications Coordinator , Campaign Director (Public Media) , Development Director , Outreach Coordinator, Development Coordinator, Office Manager, and Finance Assistant . Most…
C-SPAN to make videos available online under Creative Commons-type license
This is quite exciting: C-SPAN has announced that they plan to making available on the web their video of congressional, White House and Federal events under a Creative Commons-type licensing structure. They are implementing a "liberalized copyright policy" which will allow non-commercial copying, sharing, and posting of C-SPAN video on the Internet, with attribution. I.e….
RIAA to levy new fees on net radio stations
The website that I help run, Yehoodi.com, has provided a free streaming radio show featuring the best swing jazz since 2001. So I was particularly alarmed to learn that the RIAA on Friday successfully got the US Copyright Office to accept a new set of exorbitant song royalty fees for netradio stations like ours (full…
Your World, Your Music: a study of music diversity within Second Life
Last month I announced that I was doing a quantitative study of Second Life music format diversity. I have completed an exploratory study of 838 Second Life music events that occurred over July 2006. Please find here my research, entitled "Your World, Your Music: An Exploratory Study of Music Diversity within the Virtual World of…
Ted Castronova announces “Videogames and Public Policy” conference June 22-23 at Indiana U
Just got word that the Synthetic Worlds Initiative at Indiana University, headed by Dr Edward Castronova, is hosting a conference on "Videogames and Public Policy" tentatively scheduled for June 22-23. The format sounds like a complete hoot and a half: The theme will be explored through a game that puts participants in a 19th century…
“Beyond Broadcast” conference to include SL virtual participants
On February 24 a bevy of media experts, activists, producers and policy-makers will be gathering at at the second "Beyond Broadcast" conference. I attended last year’s excellent "Beyond Broadcast" event, where I met Pathfinder Linden and Rodica MillionsofUs among many other folks. The purpose of this year’s conference is to : explore the means, the…
Beyond Gangsta Rap: Reforming black-owned media
The Black Agenda Report has an insightful and well-rounded article by Bruce Dixon that gives an African-American perspective on media reform. Dixon notes it’s important for blacks to support the diversification of media ownership from radio to television to newspapers, beyond white male dominance of these markets. However, he comments that "media reform will have…
Pioneering legal scholar Jerome Barron on the First Amendment and the Internet
“Ideas matter and they have enduring power.” – Jerome Barron Today, Jerome A. Barron, legal scholar at the George Washington University School of Law, delivered a lecture to mark the 40th anniversary of a groundbreaking Harvard Law Review article he wrote in 1967 entitled “Access to the Press – A New First Amendment Right.” In…
Cobert: “AT&T is the T-1000 of corporations”
Again, Steven Cobert demonstrates how he is the number one pundit in America, deftly explaining the history of the telephone industry in the United States from the 1980s to now in under one minute and 20 seconds.