News

On April 15, 2010, Tony Shawcross, Open Media Foundation's Founder and Executive Director, received notice of his appointment to Governor Ritter's Broadband Council. This appointment is a proud moment for Open Media Foundation. Here are Tony's thoughts as expressed in the May 2010 Newsletter:

I was honored this month to be appointed to Governor Ritter's Broadband Council, designed to evaluate strategies for spurring broadband access in the state and launching Colorado into the nation's technological elite. The Open Media Foundation recognizes that the capacity of our communities to disseminate and receive information will increase their capacity to participate in a healthy democracy. I am excited to contribute however I can to increase broadband access in Colorado. As representative of a a public media organization, one of my top priorities will be working to reinstate public support for media distribution, especially through the Internet. This month's report is in regards to this subject.

What is Our Role in Broadband Reform?
In their latest book, The Death and Life of American Journalism, Robert McChesney and John Nichols demonstrate that significant government support of the media is the status quo in any functional democracy. Across the globe, the nations which rank highest on the Democracy Index are those with the highest per capita funding of independent, noncommercial media. According to Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House and The Economist, the US has fallen out of the top 10% of nations ranked on this scale. While the market is sometimes touted as the solution to all social needs, it's no mystery that society cannot rely on the market alone, especially for the needs of low-income communities. From military defense to public parks and education, our society is full of examples of public benefits that the market is simply incapable of providing.

If this country were designed to be a plutocracy or aristocracy, a market-driven commercial media system could suffice. The founding fathers of the United States however, knew that the great experiment of democracy required a strong "fourth estate". And they did not simply trust the market to provide for a diverse and democratic media system. From the beginning, they created subsidies to sustain a strong and diverse media system that could keep voters well-informed. For most of the first two centuries of this great experiment, the government's primary form of support was postal subsidies, providing free or discounted distribution of any media source. While subsidies of media creation were often criticized, public support of media distribution in the US was considered a core responsibility of the government.

Unfortunately, as the means of distribution shifted away from a singular reliance on the US Postal Service and towards a diverse array of distribution platforms, the subsidies necessary to ensure equal access to those distribution platforms have not always followed. Whether distributed via satellite or cable, radio or the Internet, media institutions deserve free carriage.

The success of our democracy depends on ensuring that even the smallest of media outlets has unbridled capacity to distribute their perspective. So, in the same way our government used to provide all media organizations with discounted or free delivery though the US Postal Service, the same should now be offered through the Internet. Universal broadband access should be viewed as a basic requirement for Democracy, and support for media distribution is just the first step. The end goal being: ensuring that every citizen of the United States has equal access to the information they need to be an informed and engaged member of our society.

Add the Open Media Foundation toolbar to IE or Firefox. One you add the Open Media Foundation toolbar for IE or Firefox, each time you shop at one of the more than 1,300 participating stores, a percentage of what you spend will be donated to us at no extra cost to you! (you could even save money as the toolbar provides coupons and deals). The toolbar also has a search box and each time you search the Internet, about a penny is donated to us. No registration is required! http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/open-media-foundation

To give you a sense of how the money can add up, the ASPCA has already earned more than $30,000!

Please tell your friends about GoodSearch today. They've been featured in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Oprah Magazine, Good Morning America and more.