July 2011 – Adam P. Coulter: Conduit for Communicators

Is it possible to capture how much the information revolution has changed our world?

I was just listening to the weekly radio show On The Media (June 17th 2011 episode), when I heard a segment about the FCC’s recently released 360 page report that OTM calls “one of the most comprehensive overviews of the US media ever produced,” and in its scope, certainly attempts to answer the quote above in the affirmative.

The report, authored by the segment’s guest and head of the project Steven Waldman, is titled The Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age.” The project and subsequent report is the product of over two years of work and “600 interviews and workshops held all over the country,” and the findings in my opinion are vastly interesting. I therefore wanted to share the full report and some of its salient findings with you.

First, here are a few key discoveries the project uncovers pertaining to local reporting and digital media:

While the media, in general, are rich and vigorous, local reporting has taken a “palpable hit.”

Neither old or new media seem to have the resources to hold government accountable (i.e. local accountability reporting.) For example, the report states that 27 states have no reporters in the nation’s capital.

Even as information blooms online, journalism’s crucial function as a local watchdog has been stymied.

As technology offered people new choices, upending traditional news biz models and causing massive job losses (approx. 13,400 newspaper newsroom positions in just past four years,) gaps in coverage have been created in which even the fast-growing digital world has yet to fill.

At a time when digital media is empowering more and more people, there is a countervailing trend occurring where citizens are shifting power to institutions because institutions (govn’t, companies etc.) are in a better position to drive the story-lines.

Far from being nearly extinct, the traditional media players (i.e. TV Stations, Newspapers) are the largest providers of local news online.

Individual citizens need to be thinking about this issue as an important part of building a better community and better country.

After reading please come back and add your comments below as to what you think of the FCC’s report. Thanks!

Month: July 2011

The Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age, a report by the FCC

Here is the OTM Transcript:

Here is the full PDF of the report:

Here is the OTM Transcript:

Here is the full PDF of the report:

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