Former FCC Chairs Push Digital-Education Effort

FORMER FCC CHAIRS PUSH DIGITAL-EDUCATION EFFORT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Former Federal Communications Commission Chairmen Michael Powell, Bill Kennard and Newt Minow are working with Common Sense Media to push for government and industry funding of a broad-based digital-media-education initiative. Common Sense CEO James Steyer called it a long-term effort "to address the fact that kids are living in this digital space today and will be even more so over the next 10 or 20 years." Working as the Digital Kids Task Force, Common Sense and the former chairmen want Congress to set up a nonprofit corporation financed through congressional appropriations, donations, grants and other public monies to fund education and centralized research into the impact of digital media on children. The task force will approach the major wireless networks, cable companies and others with a stake in that digital future, either for help disseminating information or some funding. In addition to the FCC trio, the founding members of the task force include Geoffrey Cowan, former dean of The Annenberg School for Communication at USC and former Voice of America director; Gary Knell, president and CEO of Sesame Workshop; Marcy Carsey, founding partner, Carsey-Werner Productions; and Richard Barton, founder of Expedia.com.
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