November 2016

A progressive technology agenda was promoted and executed over the last eight years, and in spite of party differences, the new Trump Administration might want to adopt these actions. Issues that include network neutrality, spectrum, Lifeline modernization, patent reform, Internet of things, smart cities, along with the current digital inclusion initiatives, such as ConnectAll, ConnectEd, and ConnectHome, have all been part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to foster competitive, sustainable, and inclusive information policies. And given the highly rural demographic composition of Trump voters, the new administration should consider many of these and other new tech policy initiatives that will directly benefit their constituents, particularly those related to broadband deployment, adoption, and use.

Let’s not let a good crisis in journalism go to waste. We can all beat ourselves up over how much time and energy was wasted on polling and predictions, but that noise drowns out what did not get enough time or energy, and what we can do to make it better next time. The 2016 election cycle revealed what journalism nerds have known for years: how little local reporting by local journalists working for local news organizations is being done in the United States, outside of the big, coastal cities. Can you name more than three reporters who don’t work for a news organization in a coastal state? Can you name even one?

As 2017 dawns, platforms (mainly Facebook) have proven adept at solving the short-term, but important, problems vexing journalism—namely, distribution and audience. But, they’ve done so largely at the expense of traditional forms of journalism. Leaders in the field should step back and work to solve the root difficulty of the civic information ecosystem and, in particular, the critical and difficult work of actual people asking tough questions of leadership.