Update: Confirmed Speakers include: FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and
Jonathan Adelstein.

The Benton Foundation and the Public Interest, Public Airwaves Coalition
(PIPA)

invite you to a discussion on:

Public Interest Obligations in the 21st Century: Where Do We Go from Here?

A Look at the Federal Communications Commission's
New Broadcast Disclosure Rules and the
Issues Raised in the FCC's Localism Proceeding

Confirmed Speakers include: FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and
Jonathan Adelstein. There will also be a panel of key actors and
discussion with attendees.

Time and Location:

Monday, March 3, 2008
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

National Press Club

Lunch will be served.

RSVP: Cecilia Garcia cgarcia@benton.org

or 202-454-5611

PIPA coalition includes the Benton Foundation, Campaign Legal Center,
Common Cause, Institute for Public Representation of Georgetown
University Law Center, Media Access Project, New America Foundation,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 24, 2008

KPFA Radio to Broadcast the Largest Teach-In in US History

Over One Thousand Colleges to Participate in Global Warming Day

(Berkeley, CA - January 24, 2008) While the ice caps melt and the
government stalls, campus organizers are putting together the largest
teach-in in U.S. history – and KPFA Radio will broadcast the event from
the campus of San Francisco State University.

On January 30^th and 31^st, scholars, activists, and policymakers will
gather at SF State and over one thousand other colleges and universities
across the country to discuss the future of our planet. Expert speakers
will include Van Jones, Michael Glantz, and Dennis Martinez.

“Focus the Nation is the largest grassroots effort to date to energize
the country to take urgent action to address climate change,” says
teach-in organizer and San Francisco State professor Carlos Davidson.
“All that we lack to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is political will.”

KPFA Radio will broadcast the teach-in on Thursday, January 31^st from
10am to 6pm, anchored by Karolo Aparicio, Brian Edwards-Tiekert,

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Kucinich for President campaign late today filed an emergency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission claiming that the ABC television network “is violating its obligation to operate in the public interest” by excluding Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich from tomorrow night’s scheduled debate in Manchester, NH.

Further, the complaint charges, the televised event “is not a true presidential primary debate without including all credible candidates, but instead is effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by ABC.” The filing also notes that ABC “is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walt Disney, Co., whose executives have contributed heavily to other Democratic presidential primary candidates, including Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, former Senator John Edwards, and Governor Bill Richardson.”

And, the filing points out, Kucinich “is the only Democratic presidential candidate who has qualified for Federal matching funds who is being excluded by ABC.”

Background:

“This country needs a national goal for broadband technology, for the spread of broadband technology. We ought to have a universal, affordable access for broadband technology by the year 2007, and then we ought to make sure as soon as possible thereafter, consumers have got plenty of choices when it comes to purchasing the broadband carrier. See, the more choices there are, the more the price will go down. And the more the price goes down, the more users there will be. And the more users there will be, the more likely it is America will stay on the competitive edge of world trade.” — President George W. Bush, March 26, 2004[1]

“I think we've met the goal.” — Acting NTIA Administrator Meredith Baker, November 2007[2]

On the eve of a missed national broadband goal, today the Benton Foundation releases Universal Affordable Broadband for All Americans, a report and roadmap for making broadband access as universal as telephones are today. The report calls for an aggressive new approach, a national broadband strategy, and efforts to modernize federal universal telephone service policies to help meet the challenges of connecting all Americans to broadband.

It’s now becoming universally clear that President Bush has yet to achieve his 2004 campaign promise for universal, affordable high-speed Internet connections by the year 2007. Nonetheless, as 2007 comes to a close, acting National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) head Meredith Baker has indicated the White House will soon release a report claiming broadband deployment is on track thanks to Bush administration policies.

On December 21, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives released a draft bill, the long-awaited "Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act." This proposal is a dramatic and comprehensive step forward for consumers with disabilities. It proposes to amend the Communications Act – the main statute that impacts the telephone and viddeo programming industries – to add new consumer protections that willl ensure people with disabilities do not get left out or left behind as telephones and television programming increasingly rely on digital and Internet Protocol (IP) technologies. The fast-growing disability coalition, the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) hails this recently issued draft legislative measure, saying it will allow greater numbers of people with disabilities, such as persons who are deaf or people who are blind, to become independent and productive members of society, as well as to enjoy all the new electronic gadgets and devices that everyone else takes for granted.

To see the draft bill (PDF) please go to http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/draft_of_telecom_legislation.pdf
To see a summary of the bill (Word) please go to http://markey.house.gov/docs/telecomm/summary_of_telecom_legislation.doc

Or go to http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3236&Itemid=46 and CLICK on the documents.