Welcome to the Benton Foundation

Saving Red Lion

August 5, 2008 Last week, television broadcasters told the Supreme Court that the FCC's efforts to enforce US broadcast indecency law are invalid because today's families subscribe to cable and satellite television services and surf the Internet. To make the point clearer: in order to reserve the right to broadcast "dirty" words and the occasional image of a naked female breast when children might be in the audience, broadcasters are challenging the right of the public to demand public interest programming -- educational programming for children, local civic and election affairs, and public safety information.

Headline Highlights July 2008

August 1, 2008 Picnics, baseball, and mosquitos -- what else do you expect from relaxing summer months? Anyone expecting a summer lull may have been surprised by the fireworks displayed in telecommunications policy in July. Communications surveillance, media ownership, and Internet policy grabbed the headlines. Also, see July's most-read Headlines.

The Future of Universal Service is Broadband

June 23, 2008 On Tuesday, a House hearing will consider the future of communications in America. The question of the day is whether America's future communications system should be based on 19th century technology - the telephone - or on 21st century digital broadband.

Accelerating the Great Broadband Migration

June 12, 2008 When it comes to the Internet, we've become an “also ran” on the international scene. On June 2, the Benton Foundation offered the FCC a comprehensive, equitable plan to make universal, affordable broadband in the U.S. a reality.

Senate Votes to Block FCC's Media Ownership Rule Change

May 15, 2008 Despite a veto threat from the Bush Administration, the US Senate voted, without debate, to invalidate the Federal Communications Commission's Dec. 18 decision to loosen the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule. The measure passed on a voice vote.

Benton to FCC: Use USF to Accelerate Transition to Broadband

April 18, 2008 In comments filed at the Federal Communications Commission, the Benton Foundation argues that the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) is a crucial element in reaching the nation's goal of ubiquitous, affordable high-speed Internet service.

Media Power in Wrong Hands Brings Neither "Peace of Mind nor Serenity of Spirit"

April 16, 2008 In the second of a series of interviews published by the Benton Foundation, Minority Media & Telecommunications Council Executive Director David Honig asks, "What could be a more inefficient deployment of resources than having the entrepreneurial, managerial and creative wealth of a third of the country unable to find expression in the nation's most powerful industries?"

Intersection of Race and Telecomm Policy: Andrew Schwartzman

March 24, 2008 In this Q&A with Media Access Project President & CEO Andrew Jay Schwartzman, we ask about the US's history of legalized discrimination the effects that can still be seen today. We invite you to add your voice to the discussion.

Universal Service Reform and Universal Broadband

February 1, 2008 On January 29, 2008, the FCC launched 3 proceedings asking for public comment on reforming the Universal Service Fund and recommendations made by the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service (Joint Board) in November. The Joint Board’s proposal includes a recommendation that the current definition of services supported by the federal USF be expanded to include high-speed, broadband Internet access.

More than Rhetoric Needed to Close Broadband Gap

January 31, 2008 On January 30, 2008, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration released Networked Nation: Broadband in America, a report that concludes that "a reasonable assessment of the available data indicates" that President Bush's 2004 objective of affordable access to broadband for all by 2007 has been realized "to a very great degree." The Administration's "mission Accomplished" rhetoric does not match reality.