Location: Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC, 20554, United States
A Q&A with Steven Waldman, a senior advisor to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski.
He believes there is no harm in the decline and fall of broadcast outlets and newspapers, so long as there is something immediately set to replace their useful function of delivering news and civic information. While conceding that the world is not a theoretical construct, Waldman stands behind his point that the FCC is not out to rescue traditional media or to bury them. Instead, Waldman believes the responsibility comes with trying to figure out what, if anything, the government needs to do to preserve some of their traditional public-service functions in a world being deconstructed by new media. Waldman is charged with coming up with a report to the commission on the state and fate of the media in the midst of radical change. But the industry should also expect to see his policy advice-gleaned with the help of part-timers, current staffers, and "kibitzers"-show up in everything from the national broadband plan to the ownership rule review. That policy recommendation could include direct government subsidies, which he says are not incompatible with drawing a line in the sand between structural rules and meddling with content. An open Internet is key to the future of journalism, he says, particularly the new media that will play a big role in that future.
